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0:00 CP chief and former Andra Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddi's English first pitch has sparked a language debate in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In a politically charged statement, Jagan Moan Reddi has urged people VA to stop debating Hindi and instead focus on mastering English that he calls a language of opportunities. He says English is non-negotiable for future global success. Remember this is a man who during his time as a chief minister focused a lot on English medium schools. And while he has insisted that Telugu will remain the emotional and cultural backbone of Andra, English should be the passport to opportunity and especially for first generation learners in rural government schools. Yes, Vasuda. The timing of that statement is interesting because uh remember recently Andra Chief Minister
0:47 Chandraabu TDP Minister Nara Location Janis Pawan Kalyan have backed Hindi to the hilt asserting there's nothing wrong in children learning it especially in the southern context and that's an important political statement. Jagan's message though nonanti-hindi like it is from the DMKA was clear doesn't fall into cultural distractions. Uh he tells children he tells the system to teach children the skills that will change their lives. Some have also called Hindi remember quote unquote national language a constitutionally incorrect claim the true criticism and reignited uh the north south language fault line. The push back however highlights the political sensitivity around linguistic identity particularly in the south particularly in Tamad. A
1:33 debate has also earned the traction in Maharashtra in the last few days. That's right V. But politically a pro-English and not an anti-Hindi position. What does it mean for Jagan and his party and the entire realm of South Indian political parties which have for often been centered around identity politics? That is what we discuss in the course of the next 20 minutes. We will be joined by a panel of guests. But first, here's what Jagan Moan Reddi said today. It is a national language. What is there to pitch? See, today English is the global language. anybody until and unless these government schools change and until and unless the poor studying in these government schools
2:19 learn to speak fluent English, they can never be competitive. So the medium of language should be English. Yes, once the medium is established as English, you can have language one, language two, language three. Depending on the choice of the children, maybe a language two, if there is an option, one can always pick Hindi. There's nothing wrong in it. In fact, I my first language was Hindi. Well, joining us now is Bharatra Marani who's a former MP YSRCP. We have Professor Jolnagri who's a national spokesperson in TDP. We have Sandep Shastri, political analyst. He's also the vice president of NITIT education trust and national coord coordinator of Lok Niti. Thank you all of you for joining me on this broadcast. Batram to you first. I agree with Mr. Jagan moan's
3:07 position but at a time when there's so much emphasis on pride over mother tongue and also this whole debate around the three language policy is the YSRCP trying to take a different position. Of course, the fact that you have been giving emphasis to English medium schools, but polit political uh scenario in this country also demands that you come out very clearly to say if you're supporting the NDA or the opposition party. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me here in NDTV. Here my leader Jagangaru has very clear stand and he his thought process is pragmatically what are the future generations has to face. See uh English is considered to be the global language undoubtedly. So any Indian goes
3:52 overseas the medium what even though they have lot of knowledge or uh the conduct but the communication should be very clear in terms of speaking in English. So if anybody from the people from the south goes to the north of course Hindi is the main language uh to be communicated but as far as uh uh our Indians are considered globally. So uh definitely English should be the main medium and our leaders focus is completely stressed on the uh weaker sections and the rural population. So I'm asking straightly the I'm I'm asking straightly Mr. Pawan Kalyan has pitched in that Hindi shall be the language to
4:39 be spoken across the country but whereas the Pawan Kalyan son where is where is he studying is he studying in Telu medium or okay you're asking a specific question yes we will try and get jotsnaunageri to answer that question but unfortunately vasuda I think we need to wait for jotna tunageri so as a buffer before that question gets to the tdp we have our sep shastri followed south Indian politics very closely. uh sepastri the question of Hindi versus regional language is one connotation but Hindi versus English is the other aspect of what what needs to be the language of learning for children and that's an important aspect that's an important dimension to this debate
5:25 vir this is a multi-layered question that you have posed uh if you look at the national education policy that policy clearly privileges Indian languages and very clearly seeks to give a backseat to English. This is something beyond a shadow of doubt. If you read the national education policy, ideally we all should be talking of a three language policy. Mother tongue, Hindi and English seems to be the ideal. But the challenge for a lot of us in the south is we are prepared to go with three languages. Mother tongue, Hindi and English. But does North India where very often Hindi is the mother tongue, are you willing to reciprocate there
6:12 with a three language formula, are you willing to reciprocate with Hindi, English plus a third language? Uh today Narimar Gi was quoted as knowing more than 17 languages. Now the fact that Narimar GI went out of his way to go beyond his mother tongue to other languages. Now will those who have Hindi as their mother tongue make that extra effort at national unity to learn a second and third language because my challenge is in a lot of the Hindi Hindi language Hindi mother tongue states we have a one language formula forget a two language formula and a three language
6:58 formula so I think there has to be that uniform effort across the country if you have to have That love for Indian languages it is very much there in the south and many times what happened is a reaction in the south comes because you see Hindi as a symbol of North India's domination over the politics of the country also about actually the name political north India dominated Sandep Shastri you've given the political subtext but the problem for Vasuda and me now is that Jotna Tageri is finally joined. She's missed most of the debate. Vasuda, we need to pose that question from the YSRC.
7:44 You know, Bhatra asked a very important question. I didn't miss Va. I heard I heard Baban Kalyan's children don't study in you know Telugu medium or Hindi medium schools, English I mean he's talking about livelihood and he's talking about opportunities and that will be attractive to any household, isn't it? The sad part is Wasida and Vira the sad part is they don't understand that politics and language are two different aspects first and foremost thing as a teacher I would like to tell you as an academician I would say that langu learning more languages gives you more opportunities first and foremost thing that's what we are pitching in we when I say we as teachers as human beings as citizens of India as citizens of Andhra Pradesh we think as citizens of Telangana or any other state for that
8:29 matter We think that we should learn as many languages as possible to increase the scope of our horizon and also increase the opportunities for us and see for example if you take measa I speak the best of Hindi I speak the best of English I speak the best of Telugu and also I I speak a little bit of Canada a little bit of Tamil also because and I'm learning I'm learning other languages also and this has made me more equipped I would say and during my school days yes Hindi was my second language and it has helped me where I am today. So what's wrong in learning Hindi? My question to whoever is opposing this or whoever is posing that Pam Kalyanogaru's kids where are they studying or Jagamon Radigaru's kids where are they studying or Mr. Bat's kids where are they studying or my kids where are they studying the point is it's not about kids where the kids are
9:16 studying it's about are you equipping them with strong mother tongue you know base and also strong base of other languages as simple as that. Okay. So, Joseph spoke like a proper teacher here. Thank you so much all of you for joining me on this broadcast. No, no, no. Let let me come let me give a counter for this. Yeah. Was let me give a point to this very quickly here the debate. No, no, no. The debate more. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. This is the debate between not Hindi versus the regional languages. This is a debate shall be with the rich versus poor. You might learn different languages because you might be affiliated multiple political dimensions when it comes to language and politics in India versus I think it's an endless debate as
10:02 far as language and politics are concerned. But thanks very much to all three of you for joining
