Why did they impose Hindi in 1968? BJP's Tejasvi Surya tears into Congress 

Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP from Karnataka, tore into Congress over its claims that the saffron party was imposing Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states and accused the grand old party of trying to impose Hindi via its three-language policy. 

"For a very long time, Dravidian parties and the Congress have tried to create a bogey of Hindi imposition on the BJP. In the constituent assembly, when the then Congress leaders tried to declare Hindi as the national language, it was my leader Syama Prasad Mukherjee who vociferously defended the rights of non-Hindi speaking states," the BJP Yuva Morcha chief said at India Today Group's Conclave in Mumbai. 

He continued, "In 1962, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first MP to introduce a private members bill to include Sindhi into the eight schedule because we respect all languages. It is only under PM Narendra Modi that the revised National Education Policy allows freedom to choose any Indian language under the three-language policy. So my question is: In 1968 and 1986 when Indira and Rajiv Gandhi introduced a three-language policy, why was Hindi imposed?" 

In 1968, a three-language formula was adopted by Parliament. It provided for the study of Hindi, English and an Indian language (preferably one of the southern languages) in the Hindi-speaking states and Hindi, English and the regional languages in the non-Hindi speaking states. 

Recently, a parliamentary panel recommended that the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical higher education institutes such as the IITs in Hindi-speaking states should be Hindi and, in other parts of the country, the respective regional languages. It also recommended that Hindi should be one of the official languages of the United Nations. 

On the question of Hindi imposition, Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai pointed out that Hindi cannot be the only national language and many BJP leaders have clearly stated that. 

"Unfortunately, DMK still lives in the dream of 1965 when it started the anti-Hindi agitation. When Madhya Pradesh brought Hindi into the engineering stream, why does Tamil Nadu have a problem? They keep saying this because they have failed in their governance," he said at the Conclave. 

A few weeks ago, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin had warned the Centre against forcing another "language war by imposing" Hindi.