Six student bodies of Manipur have unanimously resolved to fight against the decision of the central government to impose Hindi language as compulsory subject till Class X in all Northeastern states till it is withdrawn.
The resolution was taken during the one-day people’s convention on “Hindi Subject Compulsory up to class X: A Boon or curse for our indigenous minorities” held at GM Hall, Imphal on Tuesday.
The programme was jointly organised by All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU), Apunba Ireipakki Maheiroi Sinpanglup (AIMS), Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM), Kangleipak Students’ Association (KSA), Manipur Students’ Federation (MSF) and Students’ Union of Kangleipak (SUK).
The convention was attended by representatives of various civil voluntary organisations, learned persons and professors. They expressed their views, opinion in connection with the recent decision made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to make Hindi as compulsory subjects till class X.
After thorough discussion, the said bodies took five resolutions unanimously. In the resolution, they expressed their strong condemnation of the said decision and decided to oppose any kind of move or initiative taken up in regard with Hindi imposition.
They resolved to take various movements to preserve and promote dying dialects and languages of Manipur. The student bodies also demanded the implementation of policies and programmes of indigenous language promotion drafted under National Education Policy 2020.
They also finalised to urge the state government to draft and implement state language policy and discuss the same in the coming assembly session. Besides demanding the translation of all books into Manipuri language, the student bodies also resolved that the state government should allow taking up dialect as optional subject if it is necessary as per situation.
During the convention, a committee was also formed to translate their resolution into action soon.
Presenting his keynote address, president of All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU), Haobijam Chalamba said that student bodies of the state strongly oppose the decision of India government to impose Hindi as compulsory subject till class X. This resolution is totally against article 343 of Indian constitution which states that “the official language of the union shall be Hindi written in Devnagiri script along with English'', he said.
He further said that the history of Northeastern states is different from that of mainland India. Besides this, these regions have their own distinct culture, tradition, language, dialect and so on. Instead of providing support to safeguard these cultural heritages, the central government deciding to impose Hindi language is very unfortunate and a grave mistake, the AMSU president said, adding that they felt the decision of Hindi imposition as a ploy to supressed the cultural identities of these regions.
There is no issue and would be a wise decision had Hindi subject been offered as optional subject rather than directly forcing it to learn as compulsory subjects, he said while stating that it would be much better to organise a communication skill programme if Hindi is being imposed just for the sake of learning the language.
Chalamba said that Amit Shah should withdraw the contentious decision of Hindi imposition as a mark of paying respect to the culture, tradition, language of other north eastern regions. Every ethnic community has the right to learn, educate and communicate with their own indigenous language with pride and dignity, he asserted.
