Tamil Nadu Udhayanidhi Stalin. File | Photo Credit: L. Balachandar
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, on Friday (February 21, 2025) hit back at Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for attacking Chief Minister M.K. Stalin amid the National Education Policy (NEP) row and asserted that the State will only follow the two-language policy.
The State was seeking only its due share of funds from the Centre from the taxes paid by it, he said.
Why is the three-language policy being opposed in Tamil Nadu? | Video Credit: Thamodharan B.
“We are asking our (share of) funds, about ₹2,150 crore. They (Centre) want us to accept NEP and the three-language policy. Tamil Nadu has always been opposed to three-language policy, so what is there to do politics,” he asked.
“Education is Tamils’ right, please understand who is doing politics,” the DMK leader told reporters at Chennai.
Earlier in the day, 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”.
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 NEP.
The Union Minister was responding to the letter Mr. 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 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 Ministry of Education of stopping funds for crucial schemes.
Published – February 21, 2025 04:08 pm IST
