Chennai: A fresh round of sparring started between Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin and BJP leaders, on Friday, over the three-language scheme under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. While Union home minister Amit Shah’s said that Tamil Nadu can start teaching medical and engineering courses in Tamil, state BJP chief K Annamalai posted on ‘X’ that Stalin was ‘swinging’ his ‘paper word against the delusional Hindi imposition’.
Stalin, bitter over the proposal of Hindi being taught as a third language in schools, had stated in a post on Friday that the NEP is like ‘an LKG student lecturing a PhD holder’, while claiming that his state has already achieved many of the Policy’s goals.
Shah stepped into the fray on Friday during an event to celebrate the CISF’s 56th Raising Day. In his address, the Union home minister said that the Narendra Modi government has brought about changes to ensure those applying for jobs in the CISF can write the exams in their respective regional languages.
“Now that candidates can also write the exams in Tamil, I appeal to the Tamil Nadu chief minister to start engineering and medical education in that language for the benefit of students,” he said at the event organised at Thakkolam in Ranipet, which is about 70 km from Chennai.
Annamalai, reacted to Stalin’s post and wrote: “Thiru MK Stalin, our online signature campaign (in favour of NEP 2020) through puthiyakalvi.in is supported by over 2 lakh people within 36 hours, and our on-ground signature campaign continues to receive an overwhelming reception across TN. As the TN CM, you seem visibly rattled, and your rants against the signature campaign mean nothing to us,” Annamalai said in a post on X.
Annamalai claimed that the DMK’s campaign against the NEP had failed and Stalin was rattled. He went on to post: “Despite being in power, you couldn’t carry out a signature campaign against NEET, and remember that your cadres had to throw the pamphlets in the dustbin after realizing where they truly belonged. Thiru MK Stalin, stop swinging your paper word against the delusional Hindi imposition. Your fake Hindi imposition drama has already been exposed. It’s unfortunate that you haven’t realised it yet,” he added.
Stalin had earlier called the BJP’s campaign a circus and had challenged the party to make the three language scheme a poll plank in the state for the 2026 Assembly elections. T
“The biggest irony is that Tamil Nadu, which rejects #NEP, has already achieved many of its goals, which the policy aims to reach only by 2030. This is like an LKG student lecturing a PhD holder. Dravidam does not take dictations from Delhi. Instead, it sets the course for the nation to follow,” Stalin posted.
“Now the BJP’s circus-like signature campaign for the three-language formula has become a laughing stock in Tamil Nadu. I challenge them to make this their core agenda in the 2026 Assembly elections and let it be a referendum on Hindi imposition. History is clear. Those who tried to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu have either been defeated or later changed their stance and aligned with DMK. Tamil Nadu will not tolerate Hindi colonialism replacing British colonialism,” he added.
