Union Government committed to implementing NEP: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday reaffirmed the Central government’s commitment to implementing the National Education Policy (NEP), countering the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government’s accusations of language imposition and withholding of funds for the policy’s rollout.
Pradhan emphasized that the NEP, envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, promotes a level-playing field for students through a common educational platform while respecting linguistic diversity. “NEP gives importance to the mother tongue. Tamil is one of the oldest languages of our civilization. But what is wrong if a student in Tamil Nadu learns through a multilingual approach—Tamil, English, and other Indian languages? There is no imposition of Hindi or any other language,” he asserted.
The minister accused certain political parties of opposing the NEP due to their political agendas despite education being on the concurrent list.
The statements came in response to Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin, who criticized the BJP-led Union government for allegedly attempting to impose Hindi in the southern state. Stalin also accused the Centre of neglecting Tamil Nadu in the Union budget and failing to release disaster relief funds beyond the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) following recent cyclonic devastation.
“The Union government is trying to impose Hindi on us, but our Chief Minister will never accept it. Education was in the state list earlier and is now in the concurrent list, but that does not mean they can impose their agenda on us,” said Udhayanidhi Stalin.
DMK leader Saravanan Annadurai also criticized Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai for supporting the NEP’s three-language formula. Annadurai accused Annamalai of being a “puppet” of the RSS and questioned the necessity of studying Hindi. “Why should we read Hindi? To understand the Prime Minister’s speeches or converse with North Indian migrants? Tamil Nadu students are educated enough to migrate globally without needing Hindi,” he said.
DMK MP Kanimozhi also weighed in, accusing the BJP government of cultural imposition. “Before the BJP came to power, German was taught as an option. Now, they are pushing Sanskrit. This is nothing but language and dominance imposition, which we strongly oppose,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP state president K Annamalai defended the NEP and criticized the DMK’s double standards, highlighting that private schools attended by DMK leaders’ families offer multilingual education. “If private schools can teach Tamil, English, and a third Indian language, why shouldn’t government schools do the same?” he questioned in a post on X.
