On January 23, 1968, along with the historic two-language policy, the Madras Assembly adopted another resolution to disband the National Cadet Corps (NCC) for “imposing” Hindi by way of commands given to its cadets. It was compulsory then for students to enrol in the NCC. The resolution, moved when C.N. Annadurai was the Chief Minister, said, “that in the National Cadet and other Corps, commands shall not be in Hindi and if the Union Government refuses to accept this suggestion, such Corps shall be disbanded”.
A day before Republic Day, the NCC activities were suspended in Madras, pending a reply from the Centre. Law Minister S. Madhavan said the government would have no objection to continuance of the NCC if the commands were in Tamil or English. That year, in view of the “anti-Hindi feelings” in the State, the NCC decided not to hold the Republic Day parade.
Alternative formation
The NCC Directorate received telegrams from various towns regarding the suspension of training in schools and colleges and it referred them to the Defence Ministry. Reports from The Hindu archives provide interesting insights. Annadurai had even said that if the Centre did not yield, the State was prepared to start an alternative formation for the benefit of students. Incidentally, around that time, Kerala Chief Minister E.M.S. Namboodiripad told journalists that he had listened intently to the commands given by NCC instructors, but he could not identify the language they used.
Strangely, on February 14, when the issue was raised in the Lok Sabha, Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs V.C. Shukla said the Madras government had not threatened to disband the NCC units.
A week later Deputy Minister of Defence M.R. Krishna informed the Lok Sabha that the Madras government’s request that the commands in the NCC training be in English or the regional language was being considered. In March, after calling on Annadurai at the General Hospital, Krishna said the Centre would “go slow” on this touchy issue and hoped that “things will improve” once the excitement died down.
In the midst of this controversy, the Union Education Ministry decided in March to make the NCC an optional activity in colleges from the following academic session. Students were to be given the choice of joining the National Service Corps and the National Sports Organisation, as recommended by the Education Commission in 1967.
The Madras government’s opposition to Hindi commands, however, was not endorsed by The Hindu. While welcoming the decision to make the NCC optional, an editorial published on March 25, 1968, said, “The Defence Services have been using Hindustani commands even from pre-Independence days and they can scarcely be expected to change just because one State, Madras, has taken objection to it. Unless a compromise is worked out, the N.C.C. is likely to fade out of Madras, with consequent fall in the recruitment of young men from the State to the Defence Services.”
In the Assembly, Swatantra Party member H.V. Hande expressed apprehensions that boys, who looked forward to a career in the Armed Forces, would be handicapped if the NCC was given up. Education Minister V.R. Nedunchezhiyan, however, assured him that if it became necessary to discontinue the NCC, alternative arrangements would be considered for giving similar training to the students.
‘Standardised commands’
The Union government had pointed out that most NCC commands were in English and “only a few, perhaps ten or fifteen, were in Hindi”. The then Director-General of NCC, Major-General Kalha, had a meeting with Nedunchezhiyan and told journalists that it was difficult to change the few Hindi words of command. “These words were standardised and introduced in 1953 and nothing had been done to revise them,” he added.
The State, however, remained firm. Nedunchezhian pointed out that the State was spending about ₹80 lakh on the NCC annually and not all cadets preferred joining the Armed Forces. In March 1969, the government appointed a committee to recommend a scheme in place of the NCC. M. Karunanidhi, who had taken over as the Chief Minister following Annadurai’s death on February 3, told the Assembly that the new scheme would come into force by June-July. Police officers and retired military officers were to be employed to train the Tamil Nadu Cadet Corps, Education Minister S. Madhavan told The Hindu.
Centre concedes the demand
Signs of compromise first emerged in April when the Internal Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet discussed the issue of using certain English commands. On September 13, Karunanidhi informed the Assembly that the government’s demand for revival of the NCC was conceded by the Centre. The commands would be in English but the cadets would be taught their Hindi equivalents for use in national camps.
Welcoming this, The Hindu in an editorial said, “There is no need to consider New Delhi’s acceptance of the suggestion that English words of command may be used in the Tamil Nadu Corps as a victory for the State in the long-drawn political battle over language. The Centre’s spirit of accommodation in respecting regional sentiment is certainly a gain but not from the narrow angle of Hindi versus English or Tamil. It bespeaks of an emerging sense of give-and-take in Centre-State relations, which is vital for the harmonious working of the federal set-up.” Finally, on October 14, 1969, colleges and schools resumed enrolment in the NCC.
