Will not commit the ‘sin’ of subscribing to NEP, says CM Stalin

CHENNAI: Reiterating his categorical rejection of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 strongly pushed by the union government, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday said that he will not commit the ‘sin’ of signing up for the NEP, which seeks to chase students away from schools.

Speaking at the “Celebrate parents” meet organized by the Tamil Nadu Parents Teachers Association at Cuddalore, Stalin put the forum to good use to popularise his opposition to the NEP and said, “They (Union government) insist that Tamil Nadu would get Rs 2,000 crore, only if it subscribed to the NEP. Even if (they) say that we would get Rs 10,000 crore if we subscribed to NEP, we will not sign up for it. Please consider what will happen if we sign the pact for Rs 2,000 crore? Our Tamil society will be pushed backwards by 2,000 years. I, Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, will never commit that sin.”

Don’t think of imposing Hindi on us

Asking the gathered parents if they want their children’s skill upgraded or their education hindered in every grade due to the imposition of a third language, the CM said, “We are not enemies of Hindi. Whoever wants to learn Hindi can learn it from Hindi Prachar Sabha or Kendriya Vidyalaya schools or elsewhere. Tamil Nadu never prevents, and it will never prevent, people from learning Hindi. However, don’t think of imposing Hindi on us. If you consider imposing Hindi, Tamil Nadu will demonstrate that there is a race called Tamils with a unique characteristic.”

Arguing that Tamils living world over have shown to what extent the two-language policy has upskilled the students of Tamil Nadu, Stalin, responding to union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s query on Tamil Nadu’s steadfast opposition to NEP, said, “This is Tamil Nadu. Proud Tamils have the unique classical Tamil as their mother tongue. We respect the Tamil language more than our lives. We will not permit any oppressive language to destroy our Tamil.”

Citing the reported statement of Vice president Jagdeep Dhankar that one must undermine the culture and destroy the mother tongue there to conquer the land, the CM said, “Though he talked about the distant history, we are fighting to ensure that it must not become the new history of modern Tamil Nadu.”

Pointing out that nearly 52 languages, including 25 languages of the so-called “Hindi belt” were pushed to the brink of extinction in the 75-year history of India, Stalin said that those states that lost their mother tongue and underwent the domination of Hindi have slowly started realising now because of Tamil Nadu's valiant defence and protection of its mother tongue, Tamil. “The language policy of Tamil Nadu has become the policy of protecting the regional language of every state of India now,” he added.

Comparing the union government’s allocation to Sanskrit (Rs 1,488 crore) and Tamil (Rs 74 crore), the CM wondered, “Is this how you develop Tamil? I assure you. Even if the union government does not release the education funds due to Tamil Nadu, we will continue to implement all the schemes implemented under SSA.”