Hindi row, politics & a Mohammed Rafi song— Sitharaman’s ‘sabka saath’ jibe sparks Rajya Sabha banter

Siva, unfazed, admitted his love for Hindi film music. “I read (Hindi) lyrics in English and then sing—sometimes I even ask for their meaning,” he said. Referring to the Mohammed Rafi classic ‘Baharon Phool Barsao‘, he joked that if his musical choices were politicised, he might have to reconsider his playlist.

Adding to the banter, MP Ghanshyam Tiwari recalled Siva’s past rendition of ‘Sau Saal Pehle, Mujhe Tujhse Pyaar Tha‘, drawing laughter.

Beneath the humour lay a deeper issue—the ongoing language dispute between Tamil Nadu and the Centre. Currently, the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government is at loggerheads with the BJP-ruled Centre over its NEP 2020, which has retained the three-language formula with fewer restrictions on the choices of languages.

What is the ‘language row’ and how was it triggered?

The row between Tamil Nadu and the Centre erupted after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan indicated that the former would not be provided funds under the Samagra Shiksha programme for school education until it implements the NEP and adopts its three-language rule.

While the Centre maintains that the NEP is aimed at ensuring employment for youth across regions, Tamil Nadu has long viewed it as an attempt to “impose” Hindi on the state.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has said the state would not accept such a “blackmail”, asking “which constitutional provision” made the three-language formula mandatory. The DMK has alleged that this formula was merely a guise for “Hindi imposition”.

Tamil Nadu has almost a century-old history of anti-Hindi agitations. Unlike most states, including southern ones such as Kerala and Karnataka, Tamil Nadu implements a two-language system in which students are taught Tamil and English.

Nationally, 26.02 per cent of the population is bilingual and 7.1 per cent is trilingual, as per the 2011 Census. While the bilingual population has grown from 24.79 per cent in the 2001 Census, the share of trilingual speakers fell from 8.51 per cent.

Between 2001 and 2011, bilingualism fell in 12 states and UTs, while trilingualism fell in 23 states and UTs.

Tamil Nadu, despite sticking to its two-language formula, ranked 15th in 2011 for its share of bilingual population at 28.3 per cent. At 3.39 per cent, its trilingual population put the state at eighth from the bottom.