TN: Deputy CM hits back at education minister over 'politics' comment; insists to follow 2-language policy

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Friday hit back at Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for attacking CM M K Stalin amid the NEP row, and asserted the state will only follow the 2-language policy. The state was seeking only its due share of funds from the Centre from the taxes paid by it, he said.

"We are asking our (share of) funds, about Rs 2150 crore. They (Centre) want us to accept NEP and the 3-language policy . Tamil Nadu has always been opposed to three language policy and it has been made clear the 3-language policy will not be accepted. So what is there to do politics, I don't understand" he said. The state has sacrificed lives for the "language war," he said in an apparent reference to the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 where many pro-Tamil activists killed themselves, mostly by self-immolation, against the alleged imposition of Hindi then.

"Education is Tamils' right, please understand who is doing politics," the DMK leader added. Pradhan had attacked Stalin over the ongoing row on the implementation of NEP and accused him of "spinning progressive reforms into threats to sustain political narratives".

Education minister's letter to Tamil Nadu CM

In a letter to Stalin, Pradhan said the Tamil Nadu CM should rise above political differences and think about the interests of young learners who will benefit from the new National Education Policy. The education minister was responding to the letter Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

In his letter, Stalin said linking the two centrally sponsored initiatives -- Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and PM SHRI Schools -- with the National Education Policy (NEP) was fundamentally unacceptable. In his letter to the Tamil Nadu CM, Pradhan said , "The letter sent to PM is a complete negation of the spirit of cooperative federalism promoted by Modi government. Hence, it is inappropriate for the state to view NEP 2020 with a myopic vision and spin progressive educational reforms into threats to sustain their political narratives."

Tamil Nadu and the central government have been at loggerheads over the implementation of NEP in the state, with the DMK government accusing the education ministry of stopping funds for crucial schemes.