Chengalpattu (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 11 (ANI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin while speaking at the Chengalpattu government welfare assistance distribution ceremony on Tuesday, firmly rejected the National Education Policy (NEP) and condemned Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's remarks about the state.

Stalin expressed his concerns about the central government's pressure tactics and their potential negative impact on Tamil Nadu's education system.

Stalin started by emphasizing Tamil Nadu's economic development, stating, 'Tamil Nadu has become the second most economically developed state in India. In the last three years, more than 10 lakh crore private investments have been ensured. If there were no hurdles, our Tamil Nadu growth would have been much better.'

He criticized Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's speech in Parliament, where Pradhan suggested that the Union government would release Rs 2000 crores to Tamil Nadu only if the state agreed to the triple language policy, which includes Hindi and Sanskrit. Stalin condemned the statement as 'rude' and accused the central government of 'blackmailing' Tamil Nadu. 'In the name of National Education Policy, they impose policies with the intention to destroy education in Tamil Nadu fully,' Stalin said.

'Rather than making students pursue education, the plan is to make students devoid of education through this National Education Policy. Making education privatized, making higher education only for the rich, mixing education with religion, introducing public exams for even small children, and introducing NEET-like entrance exams for arts, science, and engineering students would give more rights to the union government in education,' the Tamil Nadu CM added.

Stalin strongly rejected the imposition of NEP, asserting, 'We will not accept the National Education Policy. I repeat, not only Rs 2000 crores, even if you give 100,000 crores, we will not accept this hazardous NEP scheme.'

The Chief Minister also addressed the controversial remarks made by Dharmendra Pradhan about Tamils being 'uncivilized,' stating, 'Yesterday, Dharmendra Pradhan has said that Tamils are uncivilized without controlling his tongue. But after his speech, in half an hour, our Tamil Nadu MPs made him take back his words. I appreciate them for their war speech.'

He praised Tamil Nadu's MPs for their swift action and firm stance, saying, 'Our MPs have shown that they are from the Karunanidhi family. Not only that, like AIADMK, which sings lullabies for the BJP government, they proved that we fight for Tamil Nadu's rights without fear.' Stalin concluded by reiterating, 'Those who asked what have 40 MPs done in Parliament, received an answer yesterday. We will make sure our MPs continue our fight for Tamil Nadu.'

Earlier today, DMK MPs protested outside Parliament against the three language policy. (ANI)