‘Hatred for language not good for country’, Naidu weighs in on language row

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday appeared to lend his support to the Centre’s contentious three-language policy, saying that it was not good to play politics or spread hatred on the issue, and adding that English, Hindi and Telugu were all important.

Naidu’s comments come at a time when his Tamil Nadu counterpart, MK Stalin, has repeatedly clashed with the Union government over what he alleges is the Centre trying to impose Hindi on the southern state. Naidu is a key member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

“It is not good for the country to play politics on language issues or spread hatred against one language. For us, Telugu is our mother tongue. Hindi is a national language and English is an international language,” Naidu said while speaking in the legislative assembly during the discussion on Swarnandhra Vision-2047 document. Swarnandhra Vision-2047 is a programme of the Naidu government, modelled on the central government’s Viksit Bharat-2047, to make Andhra Pradesh a leading state in the country.

“I am telling this very clearly to you... language is not for hating.”

Also Read | MK Stalin reveals why he replaced 'Rs' with 'Ru' in Tamil Nadu budget logo

Naidu said he rejected the argument that knowledge comes only by learning English. “This is not correct. Language is only for communication. It does not impart knowledge. Only people who study in their mother tongue are excelling across the world. It is easy to learn subjects through the mother tongue,” he said.

He said that apart from following the three-language formula, people should learn multiple languages which would increase job opportunities in international markets. “Our people are moving to Japan, Germany and other countries and if necessary the local languages are learnt the employment opportunities will be more,” the chief minister said.

Naidu underscored that it was important to learn as many languages as possible for livelihood without forgetting the mother tongue, adding that learning the “national language” will enable fluent conversation in Delhi in Hindi.

Also Read | NEP row: Ashwini Vaishnaw backs Centre, says PM Modi wants every language to get due respect

His comment came a day after deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan lashed out at the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) which has alleged that the Centre was imposing Hindi on them. “This is not correct. No language can be imposed on anybody and it is not correct to oppose a language blindly. I have never opposed Hindi as a language. I only opposed making it compulsory,” he said.

Kalyan said when the New Education Policy 2020 itself did not enforce Hindi, spreading false narratives about its imposition was nothing but an attempt to mislead the public.

The controversy came at a time Tamil Nadu has strongly opposed NEP, and said that the three-language policy is a tactic to impose Hindi in a state with a strong regional identity.

Stalin and Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan have sparred repeatedly over language and the implementation of NEP in the state, including last week. Stalin also said that the Union government was sowing the seeds of another language war and that Tamil Nadu was ready for it. Language has long been an emotive issue for the state that was rocked by anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s.

The issue also rocked Parliament last week after Pradhan said that the DMK refused to implement the NEP for “politics”, prompting a strong reaction from Stalin, who accused the minister of “arrogance” and asked him to“control his tongue”. Last week, Tamil Nadu replaced the rupee symbol ( ₹) with a Tamil alphabet (translated as Ru) for the logo of the state budget 2025-26.

Naidu advocated multi-language policy in the past as well, including the recent media conclave in Delhi. He never spoke against Hindi in the past.