When Madras disbanded NCC opposing the use of Hindi commands to the cadets Premium

Madras Assembly resolution disbanding NCC due to Hindi commands, leading to compromise with English commands in 1969.

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.

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.”