After Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan lashed out at the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government alleging them of being “dishonest” over the implementation of PM Schools for Rising India scheme, Chief Minister MK Stalin retorted saying the former needs to be disciplined.
Stalin, who has been locking horns with the Centre over the three-language formula in the National Education Policy (NEP) and delimitation exercise, slammed Pradhan saying he thinks of himself as a king and speaks arrogantly.
Refuting Pradhan’s statement in Parliament Monday, Stalin said the state never accepted the scheme and added Prime Minister Narendra Modi had written a letter over the state’s rejection of the scheme.
Sharing the letter sent to Pradhan dated August 20 last year, Stalin said that the DMK government functioned by respecting the views of the people unlike the BJP leaders who were bound by “words from Nagpur.”
“You are insulting the people of Tamil Nadu. Does PM Narendra Modi accept this,?” Stalin asked in Tamil, in a post on X.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) March 10, 2025
Pradhan withdrew the word that was objected to by the DMK MPs and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla directed that it be expunged from the records.
On Monday, Lok Sabha witnessed ruckus after DMK MPs protested over Pradhan’s remarks. Replying to a question on the PM SHRI scheme, Pradhan said the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government has changed its stand on implementing the centrally-sponsored scheme which envisaged strengthening the schools managed by central, state or local bodies.
‘Stalin vs Centre’
Last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in the southern state for CISF Day event in Ranipet, had urged Stalin to introduce medical and engineering courses in Tamil medium in the state.
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Prior to this, Stalin had alleged the BJP of chauvinism and treating people in the southern state like second-class citizens by denying its fair share for its objection to the NEP.
In a post on X, Stalin had said: “Demanding linguistic equality is not chauvinism. Do you want to know what Chauvinism looks like? Chauvinism is naming the three criminal laws that govern 140 crore citizens in a language that Tamils cannot even pronounce or comprehend by reading. Chauvinism is treating the state that contributes the most to the nation as second-class citizens and denying its fair share for refusing to swallow the poison called NEP.”
Recently, Pradhan asserted that the NEP would not impose Hindi on states and alleged that Tamil Nadu’s opposition had “political reasons” behind it. “We have never said in NEP 2020 that only Hindi will be there; we have only said that education will be based on mother tongue, in Tamil Nadu, it will be Tamil,” Pradhan told the media earlier.
“I don’t want to answer to the political ambitions of few people. NEP 2020 is focused on different languages of India, be it Hindi, Tamil, Odia, or Punjabi. All the languages have equal importance. In Tamil Nadu, few are opposing because of politics,” Pradhan said.
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The Centre had withheld funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, amounting to Rs 2,152 crore and Pradhan had earlier said the funds would be set aside unless Tamil Nadu implemented the NEP and adopted the three-language formula.
A few weeks ago, Stalin sought the release of the amount in a letter to PM Modi. While the NDA-led Centre has maintained its stance that NEP is aimed at ensuring employment for youth across region, Tamil Nadu has long perceived it as an attempt to impose Hindi in the state.
The opposition to ‘Hindi-imposition
The southern state, where Dravidian ideology is prominent, has almost a century-old history of anti-Hindi agitations and it implements a two-language system in which students are taught Tamil and English.
The three-language-formula has been a bone a contention over the years. The University Education Commission of 1948-49, chaired by Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan had favoured Hindi as India’s federal language, to be used for all federal activities such as administrative, educational and cultural while regional languages would serve the provinces. Meanwhile, the Commission acknowledged that abandoning English would be impractical immediately and added it needed to continue as “the medium for Federal business”.
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Assembly polls will be held in Tamil Nadu next year.