Accusing the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government of neglect, the state president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu, Nainar Nagenthran, on Sunday claimed that the state’s public universities are verging on financial collapse.According to Nagenthran, even the prestigious University of Madras had to draw ₹95 crore from its corpus fund to disburse pensions — a move he called “deeply shocking,” saying it exposed the severity of the crisis. He added that the university has been unable for years to recruit adequate faculty due to lack of funds, and resorting to the principal amount (instead of interest) demonstrates that no other resources remain for essential operations.
Nagenthran argued that the financial distress extends beyond Madras. Institutions such as Madurai Kamaraj University and Annamalai University too are reportedly grappling with delayed salaries, pending pension payments, and persistent cash shortages — problems that have driven faculty to protest.
He strongly condemned the government for continuing to spend crores on high-profile promotional events and festivals aimed at projecting Tamil Nadu as a “model state in education,” while universities struggle for basic survival. “They should be ashamed,” he said, urging the state to immediately allocate adequate funds to safeguard the future of students and restore the credibility of higher education in Tamil Nadu.