‘Arrogant’ Union minister Pradhan must mind his language: CM Stalin

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday admonished Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan for calling Tamil Nadu MPs ‘uncivilised’ in Parliament and said the arrogant Union minister must mind his language.

Stalin also sought a categorical reply from the Union government on whether it would release the share of various funds due to the State or not.

Reacting strongly to the Union minister’s harangue in Parliament, Stalin said, “Education Minister who speaks arrogantly as if he considers himself a king, needs to mind his language.

“What audacity do you, who deceive Tamil Nadu by denying its rightful funds, have to call Tamil Nadu MPs uncivilized? You are insulting the people of Tamil Nadu. Does the Honorable Prime Minister subscribe to this?” wondered Stalin, in a strongly-worded message posted on his Official ‘X’ handle. “Was it not you who wrote to me stating that the Tamil Nadu government has categorically rejected the NEP and trilingual policy in the PM SHRI MoU,” Stalin asked, posting a copy of Pradhan’s August 30, 2024 dated letter.

Apparently, responding to the Union minister’s “Super CM” jibe targeting the DMK leadership, Chief Minister Stalin said, “Mr. Pradhan, we act only based on the will of the people, not by obeying the diktat of Nagpur like you do.

“We neither came forward to implement your scheme nor can anyone force me to do so. Just answer whether you can release the funds meant for Tamil Nadu students and the taxes collected from us, or not?” Stalin questioned, upping his ante against the BJP-led Union government, which has been insisting of late that the State government must subscribe to the National Education Policy and three-language policy of the Centre to avail education funds from it.

A political talking point between the BJP and most of the parties, mainly the DMK in the state so far, the issue of delay in allocation of education funds, subscription to NEP and even disaster relief funds to TN by the Centre took a dramatic turn on Monday with the war of words between the Dravidian party MPs and the Union minister. It all started after DMK’s South Chennai MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian fired salvos at the Centre for withholding funds due to the State.

Reacting sharply to her critique, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the DMK MPs were ‘uncivilised’ and they were only causing harm to the students of TN by not subscribing to the NEP 2020-based PM SHRI agreement. The fresh confrontation comes in the backdrop of CM Stalin attempting to mobilise parties across the country and build momentum nationally against the BJP-led Centre on various issues.