Condemning the alleged remarks of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan against Tamil Nadu MPs in the Parliament as “uncivilized”, the DMK cadre staged a flash protest in Palayamkottai on Monday and allegedly burnt his effigy.
Led by Palayamkottai MLA M. Abdul Wahab, the DMK cadres, who gathered in front of the LIC’s Divisional Office in Palayamkottai around 3 p.m., raised slogans against Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan and the Union Government.
The protesters charged that the BJP-led Centre was making sustained attempts to impose Hindi in Tamil Nadu even though the State and its Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had categorically made it clear that Tamil Nadu would never accept New Education Policy as it would impose the third language in the State.
Since Tamil Nadu, which was leading almost all national level index in the field of education for decades, was successfully following the 2-language formula, it would never accept the New Education Policy, they said.
“While the New Education Policy is setting the goal of achieving the gross enrolment ratio of 50% in the colleges by 2035, Tamil Nadu has already achieved this landmark. Hence, there is no need for the State to accept the NEP, which is being forcibly pushed forward by the BJP for imposing Hindi in Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Abdul Wahab said.
He said the Minister was not releasing funds to the tune of over ₹2,000 crore which had to be used for development of school education.
“While Tamil Nadu is giving thousands of crores to the Union Government as tax revenue, the BJP-led Centre is refusing to give us our share from the tax,” he said.
Mayor G. Ramakrishnan, Deputy Mayor K.R. Raju, former MP Vijila Sathyananth, former MLA N. Maalairaja, a few councillors of Tirunelveli Corporation and the DMK cadre participated in the demonstration.
Published – March 10, 2025 06:10 pm IST