Cong, MEELAL smell a rat over centre's Hindi policy
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, April 10 2022: MPCC president K Meghachandra has raised strong resentment against the recent announcement made by union Minister Amit Shah for making Hindi a compulsory subject in schools of the eight North-eastern states for up to class 10 .

In a meeting held at Congress Bhawan, BT Road on Sunday, Meghachandra asserted that the Congress party will never support the Centre's move which has been devised to dilute the identity, custom, traditions, language and religious beliefs of the people of the region.

The forceful imposition of Hindi subject in the eight North East states is akin to an act of 'cultural terrorism', he stated, adding that there is no harm in keeping the subject as an alternative.

The MPCC president also stated that imposition of Hindi language as a compulsory subject in schools from class 1 to 10'will pose a serious threat to the traditions and identity of the people of Manipur and will eventually marginalise the indigenous people and their traditional practices.

He also called upon the entire people of the northeast region to raise their voice so as to ensure that the unprecedented move of the centre for imposition of Hindi language in schools is not implemented at any cost.

The recent announcement made by Home Minister Amit Shah for making Hindi compulsory subject in schools, reportedly based on decision of the Parliamentary Language Committee will never be welcomed by MPCC, Meghachandra reiterated and pointed out that Hindi has not been made compulsory in the states of South India, which hints that there is a devious policy to convert the entire Northeast into a Hindi speaking region under the folds of Hindu religion.

He also criticised the centre's decision for converting the dialects/scripts of nine tribal communities of North East into Devanagari script, maintaining that this is part of the move to wipe out these ethnic communities of the region.

Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillou Apunba Lup (MEELAL) has also raised strong objection to the Union government's decision of making Hindi language compulsory in schools across the north-eastern states.

According to a statement released by MEELAL general secretary Huirem Loikhomba Meetei, the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee had resolved to make Hindi compulsory in schools up to class X in all the Northeast states, thereby forcing the students to study Hindi as a first language instead of native/alternative language.

This is an intentional and disrespectful move against the north-eastern states, after the union government failed to do the same in the southern states.

The "one nation, one language, one religion" ideology of BJP cannot be implemented throughout the country, especially in Manipur which has a history spanning over 5,000 years.

As such, the state government needs to up necessary steps to make Manipuri language as the official language of the state, realising the true meaning of Manipur Official Language Act 1979, as amended on March 4 last year.

In addition, the government of Manipur should take a stand against the Centre's decision and initiate relevant process for development of Manipuri language as well, Loikhomba said.

Loikhomba continued: "The government should take up initiative to introduce an updated dictionary and encyclopaedia of Manipuri language, and encourage transliteration of all books into Meetei Mayek script among others.

The Ministry of Education, in the NEP 2020, stated that students till Class VIII should be taught in their respective indigenous languages so as to aid in the preservation of the said languages.

However, the centre's recent decision contradicts this provision.

Thus, MEELAL along with other like-minded organisations would be taking up steps to closely monitor whether Manipuri language is being taught till Class VIII and all the requisite text books are written in Meetei Mayek, except for the language subject, he informed.

Loikhomba then appealed to the people of Manipur to stand united in the movement for reviving the Manipuri language and further shield it from any form of threatening elements.

Meanwhile, the state Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation in association with MEELAL, MEELAL Kangleipak Cachar Banterapur Pan Loishang and Manipuri Youth's Front of Assam (MYFA) organised a programme to teach Meetei Mayek to the Manipuri people, including those Manipuris settled in Assam on Saturday.

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