CHENNAI: The ruling DMK and its allies, including the Congress and Left parties, would stage a ‘massive protest’ in Chennai on Tuesday to condemn the BJP-led union government for not allocating funds to Tamil Nadu, especially under Samagra Shiksha, and the remarks of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The minister on Saturday had said the centre would release funds to Tamil Nadu only if the state adopts the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, in its entirety, including the three-language policy.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Monday, Pradhan dismissed the strong opposition to NEP in Tamil Nadu as “politics”. “The NEP does not impose Hindi or any other language on students in the DMK-ruled state, but what is wrong if a student in Tamil Nadu learns multilingual aspect in education?” he said. “It can be Tamil, English and other Indian languages. There is no imposition of Hindi or any other language. Some friends in Tamil Nadu are doing politics. But the Indian government is committed to implementing NEP and there are certain conditions with NEP,” he said.
Reacting to Pradhan’s allegation that the decision to reject the NEP was politically motivated, Thousand Lights MLA and DMK doctors’ wing secretary Dr Ezhilan Naganathan said, “The drafting of the NEP itself was politically motivated as they did not take into account Tamil Nadu’s voice. The imposition of three-language policy is also politically motivated.”
Ezhilan said the demonstration will be organised in front of Chennai collector office on Tuesday afternoon. “Minister Duraimurugan, Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani, TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai, MDMK general secretary Vaiko, and leaders of Left parties, VCK and other allies will take part,” he said.
Udhaya: TN will never accept 3-language policy
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin said the state would never accept the three-language policy. “By stopping the education funds, the union government is being very cruel to Tamil Nadu,” he said. DMK Rajya Sabha MP M M Abdullah countered AIADMK’s criticism that the DMK govt was initially in favour of establishing PM Shri schools. In a post on ‘X’, he said, “The then chief secy wrote a letter to the centre saying that only a panel was constituted to decide on PM Shri schools.”