Hindi can serve as country's common language, DMK indulging in 'petty politics': VHP

New Delhi: Tamil is one of India's "national languages" but only Hindi can serve as the common language of coordination in the country, the VHP said on Monday and asked the DMK not to "separate" Tamil Nadu from the mainstream of the country's progress by rejecting it.

The remarks by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) come against the backdrop of an ongoing row over a three-language formula for school education, prescribed under the National Education Policy (NEP), with the Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK accusing the Centre of attempting to impose Hindi on the state by insisting on the policy's implementation.

VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain also slammed the DMK for regularly objecting to Sanskrit and said the party was "blinded by vote bank" but it could not cut off Tamil Nadu "from its roots by separating it from Hindi and Sanskrit".

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has dismissed the Tamil Nadu government's opposition to the NEP as "politics", saying the three-language formula did not impose Hindi on students and that the state government could pick any three Indian languages for school education.

Asked for comment, Jain hit out at the Tamil Nadu government, alleging that the DMK wanted to separate the state from the "mainstream of the country's progress" by rejecting Hindi.

"That's why it is not implementing the NEP while all academics are of the view that it is a good initiative to ensure progress of the people, including the new generation, and to make them good citizens," he told PTI.

Tamil is also a "national language" but the country needs one common language which everyone can speak, he said.

"Will they speak English?" he asked.

"If there can be a language of coordination in the entire country, it can only be Hindi. So please do not separate Tamil Nadu from the mainstream of national progress by rejecting it," he added.

Amid the row, pro-Tamil activists on Sunday smeared black paint on Hindi words on the boards at two railways stations in the state.

A video became widely circulated on social media that purported to show the activists painting over "Pollachi Junction" written in Hindi with black paint. Officials later rectified it.

DMK activists also painted over the Hindi name on the board of Palayankottai station in Tirunelveli district with black paint. Six party workers were booked by the Railway Protection Force under provisions of the Railways Act.

Slamming the DMK for its "petty politics" over language, the VHP functionary said a large number people from Tamil Nadu visited Prayagraj to take a holy dip at the Sangam during the ongoing Maha Kumbh.

"They did not properly understand Hindi but were in harmony with other devotees, speaking broken Hindi because they understood the language of the heart. Kumbh has become a symbol of Hindu unity," Jain said.

Temples in Tamil Nadu are the living form of Hindu culture, he added.

"The wife of the chief minister (MK Stalin) also goes there. His family members' names are also (in Hindi) Karunanidhi, Dayanidhi, Udayanidhi," he said.

He asked if Stalin would stop his wife from visiting temples and change the names of his family members.

The VHP functionary said DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran recently protested against the Lok Sabha Secretariat's move to provide simultaneous interpretation of House proceedings in Sanskrit despite Tamil Nadu being home to the "oldest" Sanskrit college in the country.