As DMK MPs objected to what they saw as Hindi being imposed on the National Education Policy, tensions in the Lok Sabha skyrocketed. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan charged that the DMK was deceiving the public and endangering the future of Tamil Nadu schoolchildren.
Today’s opening of the second leg of the Parliament Budget Session featured yet another dispute between the government and the opposition over the National Education Policy’s (NEP) purported imposition of the “Hindi” language.
Om Birla, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, adjourned the session until noon due to the sloganeering.
Members of the DMK protested by marching into the well and attacking the administration over the matter. DMK MPs questioned whether it was appropriate to use school funds as a means of political retaliation against a state government and accused the Center of withholding education funds.
The MPs who were demonstrating said, “We want justice.”
In response to the attack, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan charged that the demonstrators were deceiving the nation about NEP. MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, and other DMK leaders accused Pradhan of forcing Hindi on the Lok Sabha.
DMK harming the future of Tamil Nadu students: Pradhan
During Question Hour, Pradhan accused the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government of politicizing the matter by doing a U-turn on the National Education Policy and the three-language policy. He said that their position was “uncivilized and undemocratic” and that it was hurting Tamil Nadu students’ prospects.
They don’t care about the students in Tamil Nadu. Their future is being ruined by them. Pradhan declared, “They are deceitful to the Tamil Nadu people.”
Pradhan further noted that Karnataka and a number of other non-BJP states have embraced the strategy, even though they are not non-BJP states.
What is the three-language row?
With the DMK accusing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of trying to force Hindi on the state through the NEP’s three-language formula, Tamil Nadu and the Center are embroiled in a bitter debate. In Tamil Nadu, where state elections are scheduled for next year, the DMK and the state BJP unit are engaged in a verbal sparring match as a result of the Hindi imposition controversy.
The BJP has dubbed the debate “unnecessary,” refuting claims that the three-language formula is being used to force Hindi on the state, while the DMK has accused the Center of attempting to “impose religious ideas on the education system.”
