Imphal: Hundreds of students from various colleges and schools in Imphal on Friday staged a protest making Hindi compulsory in all eight north-eastern states up to Class X.
The students formed a “human chain” on the side of the road along the Tidim Road (Imphal-Churachandpur Road) at Kwakeithel area and protested against the remark of the Union Home minister Amit Shah on the imposition of Hindi in the region.
Hundreds of students of various colleges and schools participated in the protest staged under the joint initiative of six students’ bodies –AMSU, MSF, DESAM, SUK, AIMS and KSA.
Amit Shah, in a statement at the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, had pitched to make Hindi compulsory in schools up to Class X in the eight northeast states. He also mentioned getting consent from the authorities of the eight states.
Also read: Outer Manipur MP writes to Union HM on imposition of learning Hindi
The remark of the Union minister has drawn opposition from various civil society organizations and students’ bodies in Manipur and other states of the region.
During today’s protest, leaders of the students’ bodies urged that students of the state and the region should be allowed to learn in their own mother tongues.
“We stand against the imposition of Hindi at any cost. We stand against the move,” said DESAM president Leishangthem Lamyanba.
He said that student bodies across the northeast region had already declared their stand against imposition of Hindi.
Also read: Meghalaya political party says ‘compulsory Hindi’ a Hindu Rashtra agenda
However, they are still in the dark about the remark of the Union Home minister regarding getting approval from the eight states of the region.
NNN