North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) has condemned the decision of the Delhi University (DU) to make Hindi compulsory in DU syllabus, pointing out that the new syllabus would put the students of the North-East under serious disadvantage vis-à-vis students of rest of the country.
In this regard, as a means to oppose the decision, the forum has decided to launch agitation.
Terming it as “another disgraceful attempt to discriminate students coming from different parts of the country”, NEFIS convenor Chinglen Khumukcham in a press note stated that DU this time, after several attempts, arbitrarily decided to make it mandatory “without issuing any notification”. It reminded of the 2013 attempt by DU to impose Hindi/Modern Indian Languages (MIL) on DU students, wherein the latter had to withdraw “due to militant campaign against it undertaken by NEFIS”.
NEFIS was apprehensive that compulsory imposition of Hindi would cause immense hardships for the students who belong to communities that do not speak Hindi. “This step amounts to nothing less than cultural chauvinism on part of the university administration directed against the communities from the North-East because most of them are not adept in the language,” NEFIS said
NEFIS further observed that while the framing of university polices, the interests of the students from the North East were always neglected, saying the gross neglect was nothing new.