Students from Tamil Nadu, a key non-Hindi speaking state, had called on the PM to speak in English during last year's Teacher's Day event as well.
An engineering student from Tamil Nadu who asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a question during his yesterday's event on the eve of Teachers' Day has said that had the PM had spoken in English, more people from her state would have understood, stoking a debate on what many in south India term an 'imposition of Hindi'.
At just 15 years of age, K Vishalini is already in her first year of B Tech at the Kalasalingam University in Srivilliputhur and was found to have an exceptional IQ of 225 when in school. The youngest Cisco-certified Network Associate, she also holds the world record for the being the youngest person to clear the International English Language Testing System or IELTS.
Yesterday, on a nationally telecast programme, where Prime Minister Modi interacted with students from across India through video-conferencing, Vishalini asked the PM, for ideas to serve the country.
"You don't have to be a politician or work in the civil services to serve India. You can just serve by conserving fuel, electricity, food or even water too," the PM Modi replied.
After her conversation with the PM, Vishalini said, "I'm satisfied with his reply and I thank him. But he spoke in Hindi. The only thing is if he had spoken in English many would have understood it."
Students from Tamil Nadu, a key non-Hindi speaking state, had called on the PM to speak in English during last year's Teacher's Day event as well. This year, parts of the programme were telecast with English translations.
Over the last few months political parties in Tamil Nadu have been up in arms protesting Centre's directives like the nationwide celebration of Sanskrit week and the firming of Hindi curriculum in Centre-accredited schools.
In the In the 1960's Tamil Nadu witnessed widespread anti-Hindi agitation, mainly by students opposing a purported imposition of Hindi by the Centre. The protests catapulted the DMK party to power and then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had assured that English would remain the link language between the Centre and non-Hindi speaking states.