Chennai:
Sharp references to the DMK vs BJP ‘language war’ – over the National Education Policy‘s three-language formula and ‘Hindi imposition’ – made unsurprising appearances Friday morning as Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu read out the 2025/26 budget in the Assembly.
The BJP boycotted the session, while the AIADMK staged a walkout after being told they could not, today, raise allegations of a Rs 40,000 crore corruption scam in the state liquor sales unit.
The references included accusing the BJP-led centre of “cheating” Tamil Nadu of Rs 2,150 crore in funds for the Samagra Shiksha scheme, and a reminder of the success of the two-language policy.
The first reference was to a remark by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan – that the funds would not be released till the ‘Hindi imposition’ claims are withdrawn and the NEP implemented. This was called “blackmail” by Chief Minister MK Stalin and led to fierce exchanges between the two.
READ | “Ruining Students’ Future”, “Arrogant”: Centre vs Tamil Nadu on Hindi Row
This morning Mr Thennarasu said the Tamil Nadu government would fund the shortfall – which includes salaries for teachers at government-run schools – on its own. He told the Assembly, “Under Samagra Shiksha, the state had successfully implemented student welfare schemes for past seven years.”
“However, this year the centre cheated us by not releasing Rs 2,152 crores for not accepting NEP ,which encourages three-language system. So state is allocating its own funds…” he said.
“Even at this critical juncture, people of Tamil Nadu have rallied behind the Chief Minister for standing firm on the bilingual policy… even at the cost of foregoing two thousand crore rupees,” he added.
And, on the two-language policy – under which students learn Tamil (the mother tongue) and English – the Finance Minister said it “has taken us to greater heights… Tamils achieve globally because of this”.
The remarks have been seen as underlining the DMK’s ‘no compromise’ stance on the ‘Hindi imposition’ row, a topic that will feature prominently (as well the delimitation issue) in next year’s Assembly election.
DMK vs BJP Hindi Row
The two sides are battling over a policy that says, among other points, students in Class VII and above must learn a third language (in addition to a mother tongue and English) from a list of 22.
The DMK has objected to this requirement, pointing out the existing two-language policy has served the state – the second-largest contributor to the Indian economy – well enough.
The BJP, however, maintains its formula will benefit people travelling to other states.
It has also argued the NEP does not force a student to study Hindi.
On Thursday the DMK fired another shot at the BJP-led centre, swapping out the rupee symbol (Re) in promotional material for the budget with the Tamil letter (Ru) commonly used to refer to the currency.
The Re symbol is based partly on the letter ‘r’ from the Devanagiri script on which Hindi is based.
READ | Tamil Nadu Replaces Re Symbol In State Budget Amid Hindi Row
The BJP fired an immediate and sharp response; the party’s state unit chief, K Annamalai, called Mr Stalin “stupid” for removing a symbol designed by a Tamilian.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared it a “secessionist” move” that signals a “dangerous mindset to weaken Indian unity under the pretext of regional pride”.
READ | “… Secessionist Sentiments”: N Sitharaman Slams DMK’s Re Move
The DMK, though, has said the use of the Tamil letter is meant only to prioritise the state language. “There is nothing illegal about it… this is not a ‘showdown’. We prioritise Tamil, that is why the government went ahead with this,” party leader Saravanan Annadurai told a TV channel.
DMK vs BJP (Delimitation Edition)
The DMK and BJP are also at odds over delimitation, which the former has linked to ‘Hindi imposition’, arguing it will help the latter win elections by expanding its linguistic support base.
On this front, Chief Minister Stalin has issued a call to seven counterparts, including Mamata Banerjee in Bengal and Bhagwant Mann in Punjab, as well as senior opposition leaders from these seven states, to form a ‘joint action committee’ to oppose the proposed delimitation.
READ | MK Stalin Raises Delimitation Stakes, Calls 7 State Leaders To Chennai
DMK reps have already met ex-Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the chief ministers of Karnataka (Siddaramaiah) and Telangana (Revanth Reddy) to extend invitations.
Mr Reddy and Siddaramaiah, both from the Congress, the DMK’s ally, will attend. The latter has sent his deputy, DK Shivakumar, to the table. Mr Reddy, meanwhile, has joined Mr Stalin in criticising delimitation, warning it will, in fact, impose limitations on the southern states.
The DMK has argued that delimitation based on current data – whether redrawing constituency boundaries or re-allocating existing seats – will penalise states that have controlled population growth.
Most of such states are from the south. This, the party has further argued, means the southern states will get reduced representation, and therefore reduced importance, in Parliament.
Speaking for the BJP-led centre, Home Minister Amit Shah insisted the southern states will not lose a single seat. To this the DMK pointed out Mr Shah had not also said the northern states – where Hindi is commonly spoken, and which are seen as BJP bastions – will not get more seats.
With input from agencies
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