Tamil Nadu will regress by 2,000 years: MK Stalin jabs Centre amid language row

Tamil Nadu and the Centre have been at loggerheads over the implementation of National Education Policy in the state, with the MK Stalin-led DMK government accusing the Union Education Ministry of stopping funds for key schemes.

In Short

• MK Stalin criticises Hindi imposition under NEP, defends Tamil identity
• He accuses Centre of favouring Sanskrit over Tamil in funding
• Tamil Nadu insists on two-language policy: Tamil and English

Escalating his attack against the Centre amid an ongoing row over the National Education Policy (NEP), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday said his state would "regress by 2,000 years" if the NEP was implemented. Calling it a "sin", Stalin said Tamil Nadu would not accept the policy even if the Centre offered it Rs 10,000 crore.

Stalin's sharp attack came a day after he criticised Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for trying to impose Hindi under the NEP's three-language policy, saying that he would not allow anything that harms the state and against the Tamil identity.

Speaking at an event in Cuddalore, the Chief Minister pointed out that only Rs 74 crore has been allocated for Tamil language development, despite it being spoken by 8 crore people, whereas Rs 1,488 crore was allotted for Sanskrit, which is spoken by only a few thousand.

He further accused the Centre of excessively promoting Sanskrit, while only claiming to promote the Tamil language and culture.

Tamil Nadu and the Centre have been at loggerheads over the implementation of NEP in the state, with the DMK government accusing the education ministry of stopping funds for key schemes.

Deputy Chief Minister and Stalin's son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, has also asserted that Tamil Nadu will only follow the two-language policy -- Tamil and English.

On his part, the Union Education Minister accused MK Stalin of "spinning progressive reforms into threats to sustain political narratives".

On Friday, he wrote to the Chief Minister, asking him to rise above political differences and think about the interests of young learners who will benefit from the new NEP.

He was responding to a letter Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, in which the Chief Minister said that linking two Centre-sponsored schemes -- Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and PM SHRI Schools -- with the NEP was fundamentally unacceptable.

'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," Pradhan added.

Meanwhile, actor-politician Kamal Haasan also joined the language debate and underscored the importance of the Tamil language.

"Tamilians have lost their lives for a language. Don't play with those things. Tamilians, even children, know what language they need. They have the knowledge to choose which language they need," news agency ANI quoted Haasan as saying during a speech on the 8th foundation day of his Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) party on Friday.