Tamil Nadu lost nothing by not teaching Hindi – that’s an important lesson on Indian federalism

In essence, the battle of words between Tamil Nadu and the Bharatiya Janata Party-headed central government over the three-language formula is a confrontation between Hindutva and Dravidianism masquerading as a dispute about federalism.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and leaders of other political parties in the state have opposed the requirement of the New Education Policy 2020 that students learn three languages in school, at least two of which are native to India. They contend that this is an attempt to impose Hindi on the state.

They assert that the two-language formula in Tamil Nadu, by which students learn Tamil and English, is pragmatic and has a successful track record. At the heart of their opposition is the Dravidian ideology that the residents of India’s southern states are culturally different from their compatriots in the Hindi-speaking North.

The Tamil language is the ideological fulcrum around which Dravidianism revolves. Tamil literature considers itself as more than a language. Its self-image is that of a culture.

Attempts to introduce Hindi in schools in Tamil Nadu have been made since 1937, emanating at that time from parts of the Congress leadership. But it is worth recalling that during that period, Hindi was the symbol of anti-colonial protest. Nonetheless, it was...

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