Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Friday escalated the ongoing language row, responding to Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s call to “rise above politics”. MK Stalin reaffirmed the state’s commitment to its two-language policy and cautioned the Centre against “throwing stones at a beehive”.
Dharmendra Pradhan advised MK Stalin after the latter wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the linking of two centrally sponsored programmes with the National Education Policy (NEP).
The education minister asked the Tamil Nadu chief minister to rise above political differences and “think about the interests of the young learners”.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the ruling-party in Tamil Nadu, has been refusing to implement the NEP and three-language policy, involving the necessity of Hindi, asking the Centre to not “impose” the language. The DMK alleged that the Centre was holding the state’s funds over it for the implementation of the policy.
However, CM Stalin has said he will not allow any activities inimical to the Tamil language, the state, and its people on the soil as long as he and his DMK exist.
‘Don’t aspire to see fighting spirit of Tamils’
The central government and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads over the implementation of NEP in the state. Pradhan rejected the DMK’s allegation and said the policy does not advocate for the imposition of any language.
Stalin blamed Pradhan for doing politics in education. “Is the blackmail that fund release only if the trilingual policy was accepted, not politics? Is imposing Hindi in the name of NEP, not politics? Is converting a multi-lingual and plural country into a single-language country and one nation, not politics? Is not converting the funds meant for a scheme as a ‘condition’ for implementing another scheme, not politics,” the CM asked.
Further, Stalin said, “I warn the Centre, don’t throw stones at beehive. Don’t aspire to see the unique fighting spirit of the Tamils. As long as I and the DMK exist, no activities against Tamil, Tamil Nadu, and its people will be allowed to set foot in the state.”
Deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin also affirmed that the state will continue to follow the two-language policy, involving Tamil and English. He said that the state was asking for its due share of funds from the Centre.
The political face-off between the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit and the DMK-led government also saw an online campaign “GetOutStalin” campaign against the chief minister.
While Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai’s initiative was aimed at the overall alleged failures of the DMK administration, the choice of campaign title seemed to be rooted in the NEP and language row.
This came just days after Udhayanidhi Stalin had said that if any attempts are made to snatch the rights of the people of Tamil Nadu, then they will launch a ‘Get Out Modi’ campaign.
(With PTI inputs)