“Language War” Hotting up with Central Minister Accusing Stalin of Raising Political Passion
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Wading into the controversy over implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) with the three-language formula in Tamil Nadu after the chief minister MK Stalin showing his readiness to enter into a “language war” against the centre to resist “imposition of Hindi” on the southern states, the union minister of state for education and skill development Jayant Chaudhary has said Mr Stalin’s stance was “clearly aimed at raising political passions around the issue of language” in the light of the state Assembly elections due early next year.
Mr Chaudhary accused Mr Stalin of doublespeak on the issue of languages, and wanting to turn the issues around it into a longer political campaign, looking at looming Assembly polls in the State. Mr Chaudhary said statements by Mr Stalin that he was prepared for a “language war” over the NEP and three-language formula it espoused, amounted to a denial of opportunities to the youth of Tamil Nadu.
“Mr Stalin himself knows four languages, and is multi-lingual, why is he then determined to block the way for the youth?” he said. He also pointed out that talk of a language war does not square with the DMK’s ideological rhetoric. “You cannot keep saying that you are arbiters of liberal, progressive and constitutional values while at the same time exhibiting illiberalism with regard to language,” he said.
“I am also Minister for skill development, and the Tamil Nadu government-run Overseas Manpower Corporation Limited (OMCL) provides for free facilitation of learning languages like German and Italian to skilled personnel like nurses etc. for jobs abroad. Why then this resistance to Indian languages and specifically Hindi,” he said. “Why can’t these good practices with regard to multi-lingualism be applied under NEP which is aimed at adoption of multiple languages?” he asked.
He added that Mr Stalin’s statements were clearly aimed at raising political passions around the issue of language, looking at the way this issue has unfolded in the past. “The statements are clearly meant to raise a longer political campaign around language,” he said. Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu are due in early 2026.
The controversy over the NEP’s three language formula erupted recently when the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the Tamil Nadu government to implement the NEP in the face of resistance from the state and talk of withholding the Samagra Shikhsha funds from the Centre has also done rounds. The three language formula is a policy aimed at pushing students to learn three languages out of which two have to be Indian languages.
Hitting out at Mr Pradhan, Mr Stalin had said it was an attempt to “impose Hindi” camouflaging it under the NEP 2020 three-language policy and had declared that he would “never allow anything detrimental to the State.” “So long as DMK and I, Muthvel Karunanidhi Stalin, exist, no activity against Tamil and Tamil Nadu can ever enter this soil,” he had said at an official function in Cuddalore.
Accusing the Centre of trying to promote Hindi across the country in the guise of development of vernacular language, Mr Stalin had said, “You are accusing us of doing politics over the NEP. But it is the Centre which is doing politics by promoting Hindi in a country where people speak different languages. You play politics with language and religion and then accuse others.”
Warning the Centre not to trigger the sentiments of Tamils, Mr Stalin said, “Don’t throw stones at a beehive and also don’t prompt Tamils to show their distinct traits. I will not allow efforts to impose Hindi in Tamil Nadu.” The Chief Minister said, “In true federal concept, the Union government should be happy that Tamil Nadu was fast progressing. But unfortunately, it was refusing to allot funds which are rightfully due to the State.”
Mr Pradhan had argued that Tamil Nadu’s continued opposition to the NEP “for political reasons” deprived students, teachers and educational institutions of immense opportunities and resources that the policy offered. “The policy is designed to be flexible, allowing States to customise its implementation to suit their unique educational needs. Moreover, Centrally-supported programmes such as Samagra Shiksha are aligned with the NEP 2020. Also, PM SHRI schools have been conceptualised to be NEP exemplar schools,” he said.
“It is inappropriate for the State to view the NEP 2020 with a myopic vision and spin progressive educational reforms into threats to sustain their political narratives. The letter sent (by Mr Stalin) to the Prime Minister is a complete negation of the spirit of cooperative federalism, promoted by the Modi government. The policy does not advocate the imposition of any language,” he said. Many non-BJP States have implemented the progressive polices of the NEP despite political differences.”
“The NEP 2020 aims to broaden the horizon, not narrow them,” Mr Pradhan said. He traced steps taken by the Modi government to promote Tamil through various schemes and programmes such as the Kashi Tamil Sangamam and the Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam. He emphasised that one of the core objectives of the NEP was to revive and strengthen the teaching of Indian languages, including Tamil, which had been gradually sidelined in formal education over decades.
The Tamil actor-politician Vijay, who is recently floated the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam party and is consider to be a dark horse in the coming elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, slammed both the ruling DMK and the BJP for creating a row over Hindi and labelled their bitter back-and-forth “a fight among KG (kindergarten) students.” The jabs drew a swift response; the DMK accused Vijay of “creating an illusion” and of being “scared” of the BJP.
The TVK boss who has a large fan following seemed to kickstart his campaign by accusing the DMK and the BJP of having “staged” the controversy over the NEP. “One (party) sings while the other dances, both in unison… symbolising their collusion in maintaining the status quo. This leaves the concerns of the common people unheard and unaddressed,” the actor raged, asserting the rise of his TVK ahead of the 2026 election.
Vijay also underlined his own opposition to the three-language policy – which the DMK has claimed will force Tamil students to learn Hindi – echoing the larger state party’s line of it being against the spirit of cooperative federalism and the existing (and successful) two-language policy. Speaking at a party event near Chennai, Vijay also ripped into the centre over reports of Mr Pradhan had threatened to withhold Rs 2,400 crore in funds if the Tamil Nadu government did not fully accept the NEP, including the three-language push.
On the spat between Mr Pradhan and the Stalins, Vijay said, “The centre denying funds for Tamil Nadu is like a fight among kindergarten students. To give is the centre’s responsibility… “Mr Pradhan countered those attacks by accusing the DMK of creating a “false narrative” and saying the state had, in fact, agreed to implement the new policy before the U-turn. “Nowhere in the NEP have we suggested there will be an imposition of any particular language in any particular state… unnecessarily a political line has been taken (by the Tamil Nadu government).”
“Tamil Nadu is known for self-respect. And how can you impose a language against state policy in a federal set-up?” he asked, referring to the 1967 and 1977 Tamil Nadu elections. The 1967 poll was dominated by protests over the then-Congress-led centre’s push to recognise Hindi as India’s official language. The DMK had, then too, protested against ‘Hindi imposition’, and those protests led to riots that led to the defeat of the Congress, which was then also in power in Tamil Nadu.
The 1977 election too focused on the ‘Hindi imposition’ row. The fallout of the entire ‘Hindi imposition’ row, this week, included the resignation of a senior BJP leader – Tamil actor Ranjana Natchiyaar – who has now joined Vijay’s TVK. Ms Natchiyaar was a Tamil Nadu BJP veteran of eight years, but she resigned citing dissatisfaction with its policies, including the three-language formula push. She also claimed the BJP’s central leadership had shown “growing hostility towards Dravidians, and neglect of Tamil Nadu’s needs.
