The Tamil Nadu vs centre ‘language war’ – over the National Education Policy and its three-language formula, which the Tamilnadu views as ‘imposition of Hindi’ – exploded inside and outside Parliament Monday with Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan criticising the latter’s ruling DMK for “ruining the future of students (from the state)”. He also used a pejorative – to describe Tamil Nadu – that he later withdrew and was then expunged from the Lok Sabha’s records.
Chief Minister MK Stalin delivered a feisty response; on X he told Pradhan to “mind his words” and said, “The Union Education Minister, who thinks of himself as a king and speaks arrogantly, needs to be disciplined!”
“They (the DMK) are being dishonest. They are not committed to Tamil Nadu students. They are ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students. Their only job is to raise language barriers. They are doing politics… mischief. They are undemocratic,” Pradhan raged in the Lok Sabha.
The DMK hit back with a privilege motion K Kanimozhi submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
His remarks followed his earlier claim – that Tamil Nadu had, in fact, agreed to fully implement the new education policy, including its three-language formula, only to backtrack later, allegedly in hopes of using the emotionally charged issue to get votes in next year’s Assembly election.