Amit Shah hits out at DMK over opposition to National Education Policy
This story was originally published at 21:15 IST on 21 March 2025
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NEW DELHI – Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday hit out at the ruling party of Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, alleging that it is dividing the country in the name of language. Shah termed the language war, which came to the fore after the state government opposed the National Education Policy, as an attempt to hide its corruption.
Shah, responding to a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Rajya Sabha, cited efforts by the Department of Official Language, which comes under his ministry, to enhance the usage of all Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, and said he will start exchanging letters with citizens, chief ministers, ministers, and members of parliament in their regional languages after December.
"What are they saying? That we oppose languages of the south? How can this be possible? I come from Gujarat, Nirmala Sitharaman comes from Tamil Nadu. How can we oppose languages of south? What are you saying? We have worked for languages...I would like to tell Tamil Nadu government - we have been saying for two years that you couldn't provide medical and engineering education in Tamil...You cannot do this. When a National Democratic Alliance government comes to power (in Tamil Nadu), we will provide medical and engineering course in Tamil," Shah said.
He said Hindi has no competition with any other India language. "I would like to tell those who spread poison in the name of language that you like languages from thousands of kilometres away but you do not language of India. I have said this again and again Hindi has no competition with any other Indian language. Hindi is a friend of all Indian languages," Shah said.
The DMK has opposed the National Education Policy 2020, saying it is a backdoor attempt to push Hindi in the southern state. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin recently said that the policy has not been created to develop India but to develop Hindi. He said the National Education Policy would destroy the Tamil Nadu education system completely.
Shah spoke in the Upper House for almost two hours and touched upon multiple issues concerning his ministry, including Naxalism, cyber security, drugs and newly enacted criminal laws. He, however, didn't mention anything about the delimitation exercise, which is scheduled for 2026. The southern states have also voiced concerns about the delimitation exercise saying it would reduce their representation in parliament. The members from southern states, particularly from DMK, have been protesting for a fair delimitation exercise. End
Reported by Kuldeep Singh
Edited by Ashish Shirke
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