'Would Sundar Pichai Head Google If...'

'... he had to take his exams in Hindi at IIT-Kharagpur.'
'You wouldn't have got someone like Sundar Pichai because Hindi is not a friendly language for a person from Tamil Nadu.'

"Think about those students from the north of India who are studying in places like Chennai, Bangalore, Mangalore, etc If they are forced to study in Malayalam, Kannada or Tamil, what would be their plight?" Communist Party of India-Marxist Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas asks Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier in the concluding segment of a three-part interview.

• Part 1: 'Students from the south will be forced to study in Hindi'
• Part 2: 'Deliberate attempt to make Opposition weak'

Now, they want to rewrite history...

According to the BJP, this country had only Hindu warriors and Muslim warriors. And all the Hindu kings were very good, and all the Muslim kings were very bad.

Is this history? Then they come out with movies to supplement that.

History has been mythology for the BJP. Their obscurantist beliefs are supposed to be the science of this country.

So, I am not astonished or aghast that the BJP is doing it. It is expected of the BJP.

There is a danger that is hanging over us which every sensible person should be aware of.

Is that why you tweeted, could Sundar Pichai have been at the helm of Google if he had to take his exams at IIT-Kharagpur in Hindi?

I tweeted what I spoke in the House (the Rajya Sabha). Interestingly, I raised the topic when the prime minister of India was in the House.

I raised the so-called imposition of Hindi in the country.

I then said, if at all Sundar Pichai were to take his exams in Hindi, would you have expected him to be at the top of Google?

You wouldn't have got someone like Sundar Pichai because Hindi is not a friendly language for a person from Tamil Nadu.

Think about those students from the north of India who are studying in places like Chennai, Bangalore, Mangalore, etc.

If they are forced to study in Malayalam, Kannada or Tamil, what would be their plight?

Now, there is a talk about converting medical colleges into Hindi medium...

Even when the government's intention is to nourish every language, there is a problem.

Imagine a student learns medicine in Tamil, how is he expected to work in some other state?

Moreover, we should not be jingoistic and zenophobic when it comes to modern medicine and technology as innovations happen in the developed world.

You should nurture your own language, but not at the sense of what is happening in the world.

Look at the Scandinavian countries, they are learning in English.

Even the Chinese students are now well versed in English.

I don't know why we have such a fetish about things that are not going to help the country. This is only going to ruin the country. That's my concern.

Do you think what they are doing in a subtle way will be more aggressive if they win the 2024 elections?

There is no subtlety at all in what they do. Everything is very explicit.

They have not camouflaged their intentions in any way.

I would say, we must give credit to their honesty!! (laughs)