NEP row heats up: MK Stalin dubs Dharmendra Pradhan ‘arrogant King’, says ‘need to be disciplined’

NEP row: Amid a stalemate over the implementation of the three-language option via the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan-championed National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin, in strong words, condemned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader's statements in Lok Sabha. The Tamil Nadu CM dubbed Dharmendra Pradhan as an ‘arrogant king' who ‘needed to be disciplined’.

In a rather long post on X (formerly Twitter), MK Stalin said, “The Union Education Minister, who thinks of himself as a king and speaks arrogantly, dpradhanbjp, They need to be disciplined!”

(Please note that this is an English translation of MK Stalin's tweet, which was written in Tamil)

In a strongly worded post in Tamil on his X handle, MK Stalin called out the "arrogance" of the Union minister and said that he was speaking like an "arrogant king". The CM said that the person who had "disrespected" the people of Tamil Nadu “needs to be disciplined”.

"Union Minister Dharmendhra Pradhan who thinks himself as king speaking with arrogance should have control over his tongue," Stalin posted.

What did Dharmendra Pradhan say in Lok Sabha?

BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in his remarks during Question Hour, alleged that the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government had initially agreed to implement the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme in the state but later went back on its promise.

"They (DMK) are dishonest. They are not committed to the students of Tamil Nadu. They are ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students. Their only job is to raise language barriers. They are doing politics. They are doing mischief. They are undemocratic and uncivilised," Pradhan said.

The DMK staged a protest over the Union minister's remarks, which led to an adjournment of Lok Sabha proceedings.

CM MK Stalin in his post on X said that the Centre was the one that had cheated by not giving funds to Tamil Nadu and called the Tamil Nadu MPs uncivilized.

How did DMK react?

Speaking to ANI, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran said, “Dharmendra Pradhan lied by saying that the DMK government had agreed (to sign the NEP). The DMK never agreed to NEP or the three-language policy; all we said was that we couldn't. Why should our students in Tamil Nadu learn three languages whereas students from north India learn only one language.”

Clarifying the stance of DMK leaders, Dayanidhi Maran added, "We are not against Hindi. If there are students who want to learn Hindi, they are free to do so but it should not be compulsory."

DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said, “DMK MPs raised the issue that the Union government has not released funds for Tamil Nadu saying that unless the State government agrees to sign the NEP, the three-language policy, funds more than ₹2,000 crore won't be released for the schools. The (Union Education) minister got up and said that MPs from Tamil Nadu and opposition parties had met him and agreed to sign NEP, which is far from the truth."

"Our CM has written to the (Union Education) Minister and PM that we won't be signing the NEP. Our CM has made this very clear and we have not changed it, (Union Education) Minister called our govt, people and Parliamentarians from Tamil Nadu liars. He hurt our feelings and Tamil Nadu's pride by calling us uncivilised. We condemn this strongly,” Kanimozhi added.