Jaipur: Wading into the language debate, Rahul Gandhi on Monday said English will work in schools, not Hindi.
Slamming the BJP-headed Central government, Rahul said that leaders of the saffron party don’t want English to be taught in schools.
“BJP leaders don’t want English to be taught in schools… But children of all their leaders go to English medium schools. Actually, they don’t want children of poor farmers and labourers to learn English, dream big and get out of their fields,” the senior Congress leader claimed.
Highlighting the importance of English language at a rally in Rajasthan’s Alwar during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul said: “If you want to speak to the people of rest of the world, Hindi will not work, English will. We want children of poor farmers and labourers to go and compete with Americans and win over them using their language.”
He argued that the children of BJP leaders, including Union ministers, chief ministers, MPs and MLAs, go to English medium schools.
Rahul, however, clarified that he wasn’t against Hindi.
“I am not saying that one should not study other languages such as Hindi or Tamil. But if you want to connect with the world, you must know English,” the Wayanad MP said.
To justify his point, Rahul said that around 1,700 English medium schools have been opened in Congress-ruled Rajasthan.
