Stalin trying to turn National Eduction Policy into a political campaign: Jayant Chaudhary

Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State of Education. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Minister for skill development (independent charge) and Minister of State for education Jayant Chaudhay waded into the three-language formula controversy charging Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin of doublespeak on the issue of languages, and wanting to turn the issues around it into a longer political campaign, looking at looming Assembly polls in the State.

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Mr. Chaudhary said that statements by Mr. Stalin, stating that he was prepared for a “language war” over the National Eduction Policy (NEP) and three-language formula it espoused, amounted to a denial of opportunities to the youth of Tamil Nadu. “Mr. Stalin himself knows four languages, and is multi-lingual, why is he then determined to block the way for the youth?” he said. He also pointed out that talk of a language war does not square with the DMK’s ideological rhetoric. “You cannot keep saying that you are arbiters of liberal, progressive and constitutional values while at the same time exhibiting illiberalism with regard to language,” he said.

“I am also Minister for skill development, and the Tamil Nadu government-run Overseas Manpower Corporation Limited (OMCL) provides for free facilitation of learning languages like German and Italian to skilled personnel like nurses etc. for jobs abroad. Why then this resistance to Indian languages and specifically Hindi,” he said. “Why can’t these good practices with regard to multi-lingualism be applied under NEP which is aimed at adoption of multiple languages,” he said.

He added that Mr. Stalin’s statements were clearly aimed at raising political passions around the issue of language, looking at the way this issue has unfolded in the past. “The statements are clearly meant to raise a longer political campaign around language,” he said. Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu are due in early 2026.

On the anxieties expressed by Mr. Stalin over delimitation reducing representation of southern states in terms of Lok Sabha seats and calling a meeting of southern States on March 5, Mr. Chaudhary said that it was an effort to anticipate things that have not been decided as yet.

“Nothing has been decided, so why are assumptions being made on the results of delimitation? Whatever will be adopted in terms of delimitation will be the result of political dialogue in which all will participate,” he said.

The controversy over the NEP’s three language formula erupted over the course of the month when education minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the Tamil Nadu government to implement it in the face of resistance from the state and talk of withholding the Samagr Shikhsha funds from the Centre has also done rounds. The three language formula is a policy aimed at pushing students to learn three languages out of which two have to be Indian languages.