Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan has issued a clarification regarding the ongoing Hindi language controversy. Responding to the criticism over his remarks during the party’s 12th anniversary event, Pawan Kalyan asserted that he never opposed the Hindi language but only resisted its forced implementation.
In a detailed social media post, the Jana Sena leader accused certain individuals of intentionally misinterpreting his statements. He emphasized that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 does not make Hindi mandatory but provides the flexibility to learn the mother tongue, another Indian language, and one international language.
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“I have never opposed Hindi as a language; I only object to its compulsory imposition. NEP 2020 allows students to learn any two Indian languages along with a foreign language. If one does not wish to study Hindi, they can opt for Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Assamese, Kashmiri, Odia, Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Bodo, Dogri, Konkani, Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali, Santhali, Urdu, or any other Indian language,” he explained.
Either imposing a language forcibly or opposing a language blindly; both doesn’t help to achieve the objective of National &Cultural integration of our Bharat.
I had never opposed Hindi as a language. I only opposed making it compulsory. When the NEP 2020 itself does not…
— Pawan Kalyan (@PawanKalyan) March 15, 2025
Pawan Kalyan further stated that neither imposing a language nor blindly opposing one would help achieve national unity and cultural integration. He condemned the spread of false narratives about NEP 2020 and stressed that the multilingual policy aims to protect India’s linguistic diversity and foster national harmony.
“Misinterpreting this policy for political gain reflects ignorance,” he added.