Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday responded to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Tamil Nadu government’s opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP) and the three-language policy.
“Recently, the Government of India discussed with the Tamil Nadu government. A way of compromise was also found in this. If the Tamil Nadu government agrees to that path, we have no objection in giving them PM SHRI allocation,” ANI quoted Pradhan as saying outside the Parliament.
“In Tamil Nadu, only the Tamil language will be the medium of instruction in PM SHRI schools. What is your (Tamil Nadu government) opposition? I don’t understand this,” he added.
Pradhan asserted that the Centre was not imposing any language policy, saying, “Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra are all implementing PM SHRI and NEP… No one is imposing any language on anyone… They are just doing politics.”
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran refuted claims made by Dharmendra Pradhan that the Tamil Nadu government had agreed to sign the National Education Policy (NEP).
Maran clarified that the DMK has never consented to the NEP or its controversial three-language policy, which has sparked significant opposition in Tamil Nadu.
“Dharmendra Pradhan lied by saying that DMK govt had agreed (to sign NEP). DMK never agreed to NEP or 3-language policy, all we said is that we can’t. Why should our students in Tamil Nadu learn 3 languages, whereas students from North India learn only one language?” ANI quoted Maran as saying.
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He further defended Tamil Nadu’s position on language, stressing that the opposition was not against Hindi but rather the compulsory imposition of three languages.
“We are not against Hindi. If there are students who want to learn Hindi, they are free to do so, but it should not be compulsory,” Maran added.
Pradhan vs DMK on NEP in Parliament
During his address in the Lok Sabha, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused the DMK of being “dishonest” and playing “politics” at the cost of Tamil Nadu students’ future.
“They (DMK) are dishonest. They are not committed to the students of Tamil Nadu. They are ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students. Their only job is to raise language barriers. They are doing politics. They are doing mischief. They are undemocratic and uncivilised,” Pradhan said.
In the Rajya Sabha the DMK staged a walkout after raising the issue of the three language policy and the issues of delimitation.
Later, DMK workers staged a protest in Coimbatore over Pradhan’s ‘dishonest’ barb at the Tamil Nadu government.