Asam Sahitya Sabha criticizes Centre’s move to make Hindi Compulsory subject in NE states

The Asam Sahitya Sabha (ASS), an influential literary body, has criticised the move to make Hindi a compulsory subject in North-Eastern states until Class 10 and has urged the government to focus on conserving and promoting indigenous languages.

According to ASS Secretary-General Jadav Chandra Sharma, if Hindi becomes compulsory, the future of indigenous languages and Assamese as a link language will be jeopardised.

He also stated that the Sabha had pressed the state government to include Assamese in CBSE and English medium schools, but no progress had been made thus far.

Assam's opposition parties have slammed the Centre's announcement that all eight North Eastern states have agreed to make Hindi a compulsory subject until the 10th grade, calling it a "step toward cultural imperialism."

The opposition parties, including the Congress and the AJP, have demanded that the decision be reversed, claiming that it is against the interests of the people of the region.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated on April 7 during a meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee in New Delhi that all NE states have agreed to make Hindi mandatory in schools up to Class 10.

He had also said that nine tribal communities of the region have converted their dialects' scripts to Devanagari and 22,000 Hindi teachers have been recruited for the eight states.