Stalin dares BJP to announce 3-language policy at TN poll campaigns

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin launched a sharp attack on the Centre over the proposed three-language policy and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA alliance to openly announce that they would implement it in the state, during the ongoing election campaigns.

Addressing a rally in Sankarankoil, Stalin strongly opposed what he described as attempts to impose Hindi through frameworks such as the CBSE curriculum and the National Education Policy. He challenged the Centre’s claim, articulated by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, that the policy was aimed at improving educational standards, arguing that there was no clear link between language imposition and quality of education.

The Chief Minister also accused the Centre of withholding approximately ₹2,200 crore in funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme due to Tamil Nadu’s refusal to adopt the policy. He maintained that public funds collected through taxes should not be used as leverage in political disputes.

Expanding his criticism, Stalin raised concerns over rising cooking gas prices and shortages, using the issue to question the Centre’s governance. He further targeted the BJP-led NDA alliance, including its partner AIADMK, predicting electoral backlash and asserting that the alliance’s governance model would not succeed in Tamil Nadu.

Reaffirming his stance, Stalin said his government would take all necessary steps to safeguard the state’s linguistic rights, signalling that the language issue is likely to remain a key political flashpoint in the run-up to elections.