Stalin said since Tamil Nadu has not agreed to the 3-language policy, the Centre has not released ₹2,152 crore.
On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin accused the BJP-led Central Government of withholding educational funds from the state due to its trivial political maneuvers, asserting that his administration will petition the Supreme Court for the release of over ₹2,000 crore.
While addressing a book launch event, Stalin remarked that the Centre has not disbursed ₹2,152 crore since Tamil Nadu has not consented to the three-language policy. He alleged, “The BJP-led Centre has suspended educational funding to Tamil Nadu for its petty politics,” emphasizing that these funds were intended for the benefit of students and teachers.
Moreover, Stalin confirmed that the state government would indeed approach the Supreme Court to contest the Centre’s failure to release educational funds.
He expressed confidence that, similar to the state’s success in the Governor case, which established deadlines for the Governor/President regarding Bills, Tamil Nadu would prevail in the matter concerning educational funds as well.
The Dravidian model advocates education for all, whereas the BJP promotes a Saffron model that provides education solely for a select few. “The ideology of the Dravidian model is that everything is for everyone, while the Aryan ideology focuses on everything for one individual; this represents a 2,000-year conflict within our society.”
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He emphasized the significance of education over the past century in Tamil Nadu, which commenced with the Dravidian movement, stating, “Knowledge is our weapon.”
He claimed, “The National Education Policy (NEP) will undermine reservation. As long as reservation exists, marginalized and backward communities will have access to higher education opportunities. The NEP will disrupt a pluralistic culture.”
The BJP’s vision is to establish a unitary nationalism rooted in a Sanskrit cultural framework.
Union Minister Amit Shah has explicitly stated that Sanskrit will flourish under the NEP, as noted by the chief minister, which has validated these concerns.
Additionally, Stalin stated that the fight to include education in the state list of the Constitution would persist, warning that if education is not transferred to the state list, it would become inaccessible to all. He reiterated the DMK’s stance on this issue.
During the release of the book titled “NEP-2020 Enum Madhayanai” (The Rogue Elephant-NEP-2020), authored by School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Stalin remarked that the title encapsulates the entire content and is of significant importance.
Regarding the BJP government, he criticized its aim to saffronize all aspects of society, asserting that education is the first target, and the NEP has been introduced to facilitate this agenda.
Consequently, Anbil Mahesh has posed a critical question to the nation: whether to choose between disastrous communalism or flourishing social justice. “We firmly declare that we will not endorse the NEP after observing the BJP’s initiatives, actions, and future plans.”
This initiative aims to eliminate all state languages, including Tamil. The only solution to prevent this is to restore education to the state list within the Constitution. The effort towards this goal must be intensified… If education is not transferred to the state list, it will become inaccessible to everyone.
State governments should exclusively possess the authority to determine the medium of instruction and the nature of the curriculum. Therefore, our campaign to transfer education to the state list must persist until it is accomplished. The recently published book serves as a source of motivation towards this objective.
Only the state has the power to legislate on matters included in the state list, while both the state and the Centre can exercise authority over the Concurrent list.