Amid the ongoing debate over Tamil Nadu’s language policy, a resurfaced video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai has gone viral, reigniting discussions on the state’s stance on language education. The video, which has circulated widely on social media, shows Pichai mentioning that he learned Hindi during his school years. The tweet accompanying the video reads: “Sundar Pichai, who comes from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, says—‘I learnt Hindi in school.’ Sundar Pichai was born in 1972 and learnt Hindi during Congress rule. Clearly, Hindi was the third language in Tamil Nadu.” — MeghUpdates (@MeghUpdates).
The timing of this video has added fuel to the ongoing debate, especially after DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran faced criticism for claiming that Pichai was educated under Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy and that this system played a pivotal role in his success. Maran had suggested that the state’s education system, which generally emphasizes Tamil and English, had contributed to Pichai’s remarkable rise.
Born into a Tamil Brahmin family in Chennai, Sundar Pichai’s early years were shaped by his parents—his mother, Lakshmi, worked as a stenographer, while his father, Regunatha Pichai, was an electrical engineer. Pichai’s academic journey took him to IIT Kharagpur, where he pursued metallurgical engineering, earning a silver medal and a scholarship to study at Stanford University in the United States.
Following his MS in engineering and materials science from Stanford, Pichai briefly worked at Applied Materials and later pursued an MBA at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 2002. His career at Google began in 2004 after a short stint at consulting firm McKinsey. He quickly rose through the ranks, contributing to major products such as Google Toolbar and Chrome, and by 2014, he became the CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet.
The resurfacing of Pichai’s statement has sparked a larger debate on the education system in Tamil Nadu, especially the implementation of the two-language policy. Supporters of the policy argue that it is essential to preserve the state’s linguistic heritage, while critics, including some political figures, feel that it limits students’ exposure to Hindi and impedes national integration.