Amid the ongoing political storm surrounding the alleged imposition of Hindi, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) President and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has made a strong case for English as the medium of instruction in schools across the country, subtly pushing back against what he termed a misplaced debate over Hindi versus regional languages.
Addressing reporters, Jagan Reddy emphasized that the real transformation needed in India’s education system is not resisting Hindi but ensuring that students, particularly from government schools, are equipped with fluency in English to compete globally.
“The change that should be brought is not Hindi,” he said. “Hindi can be a language and can be learned. But the medium of education should be English. This should be the biggest change if India were to move forward and leap forward.”
With this, Jagan Reddy effectively rebutted the anti-Hindi rhetoric propagated by Dravidianist parties, which have repeatedly framed the promotion of Hindi as a threat to regional identities. He argued instead that the primary concern should be the empowerment of students from economically weaker sections through access to quality English education.
“English is the global language,” he said. “Until and unless government schools change and students learn to speak fluent English, they can never be competitive.”
Reddy suggested a three-language model, placing mother tongue first, and leaving room for Hindi or any other language as per student preference. “Once the medium is established as English, you can have language one, language two, and language three, depending on the choice of the children. The mother tongue should be compulsory as the first language. As a second language, one can pick Hindi. There is nothing wrong in it,” he said.
The YSRCP chief also cited his own educational experience to make the point. “My school was an English medium school. But my first language was Hindi, and the second was Telugu. That’s a different issue,” he remarked, implicitly challenging the notion that learning Hindi is equivalent to cultural surrender.
While political parties in Tamil Nadu and some parts of the South of India continue to resist Hindi under the banner of linguistic autonomy, Jagan’s statements mark a significant departure, highlighting a pragmatic, student-centric approach over linguistic identity politics.
(With inputs from ABPLive)
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