Ruckus in Parliament over ‘Hindi’ imposition row; DMK misleading country, says Dharmendra Pradhan in Lok Sabha

The second leg of the Parliament Budget Session began today with yet another confrontation between the Opposition and the government over the alleged ‘Hindi’ language imposition through the National Education Policy (NEP).

Amid the sloganeering, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla has adjourned the house until 12 noon.

The DMK members attacked the government over the issue, with its MPs walking into the well and protesting. DMK MP's accused the Centre of withholding education funds, questioning whether using school funds as a tool for political retaliation against a state government was justified.

“We want justice,” the protesting MPs shouted.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan responded to the attack and accused the protesting members of misleading the country on NEP. Pradhan denied Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and other DMK leaders' charge of Hindi imposition in Lok Sabha.

DMK harming the future of Tamil Nadu students: Pradhan

Pradhan, during Question Hour, criticised the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government for taking a U-turn on the National Education Policy and the three-language policy, accusing them of politicising the issue. He called their stance “uncivilised and undemocratic” and claimed they were harming the future of Tamil Nadu students.

“They are not committed to the Tamil Nadu students. They are ruining their future. They are dishonest to the people of Tamil Nadu,” Pradhan said.

Pradhan also pointed out that Karnataka, despite not being a non-BJP state, has accepted the policy, along with several other non-BJP states.

What is the three-language row?

Tamil Nadu and the Centre are locked in a heated dispute, with the DMK accusing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliace (NDA) of attempting to impose Hindi language on the state through the three-language formula in the NEP. The Hindi imposition row has led to a war of words between the DMK and the state BJP unit of Tamil Nadu, where state elections are due next year.

While the DMK has accused the Centre of trying to “impose religious ideas on the education system”, theBJP has called it an “unnecessary controversy”, denying charges that the three-language formula is to impose Hindi on the state.