NEW DELHI: A heated debate broke out in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the second leg of the Parliament Budget Session 2025.
DMK and BJP clashed over the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme.
DMK MP Kanimozhi criticized the Centre for making NEP and the three-language policy a condition for states to receive funds under the PM SHRI scheme.
She argued that education falls under the Concurrent List, meaning both the Centre and states have an equal say in policy decisions.
โNothing should be imposed on any state; education is in the Concurrent List. Why do you have to decide something and force it on any state? I think the state has an equal right when a subject is in the Concurrent List. This is a budgetary allocation. Why are you withholding the funds and insisting that unless we sign and accept the NEP and the three-language policy, the funds will not be released? I donโt think the Union government has the right to do that,โ she said.
The argument intensified after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused the Tamil Nadu government of dishonesty regarding the implementation of the scheme.
He claimed that while Tamil Nadu had initially agreed to sign an MoU to implement the scheme, it later backed out.
โThe Tamil Nadu government had initially agreed to sign the MoU. But now they have changed their stand. Many non-BJP-ruled states, including Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, have signed the agreement,โ Pradhan said.
DMK members strongly protested his remarks, leading to a 30-minute adjournment of the House.
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran rejected Pradhanโs claims, stating that Tamil Nadu never agreed to implement NEP or the three-language policy.
โDharmendra Pradhan lied by saying that the DMK government had agreed to sign NEP. We never agreed. Why should Tamil Nadu students learn three languages while students in North India learn only one? We are not against Hindi, but it should not be made compulsory,โ Maran said.
Pradhan stated that the Centre had offered a compromise, ensuring that Tamil would be the sole medium of instruction in PM SHRI schools in Tamil Nadu.
โRecently, the Government of India had a discussion with the Tamil Nadu government. A way of compromise was also found. If the Tamil Nadu government agrees to that path, we have no objection in giving them PM SHRI allocation. In Tamil Nadu, only the Tamil language will be the medium of instruction in PM SHRI schools. What is your opposition? Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra are all implementing PM SHRI and NEP. No one is imposing any language on anyone. They are merely playing politics,โ he said.
Pradhan also launched a strong attack on the DMK, accusing them of harming studentsโ futures by refusing to implement NEP.
โThey (DMK) are dishonest. They are not committed to the students of Tamil Nadu. They are ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students. Their only agenda is to create language barriers. They are indulging in politics and mischief. They are undemocratic and uncivilized,โ he said.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused the DMK of raising the NEP and delimitation issues due to fear of losing the upcoming Tamil Nadu elections. He alleged that the party was inciting emotions rather than focusing on governance.
โThe DMK is merely inciting emotions. Tamil is an ancient language, but Sanskrit predates Tamil. Go to any temple across the country, whether in Tamil-speaking, Telugu-speaking, or Kannada-speaking regionsโpuja is performed in Sanskrit,โ Dubey said.
