NEP row: Tamil Nadu to next move SC against Modi govt for release of Rs 2,152 crore SSA funds

 

The Tamil Nadu government is all set to step up its fight against the Union government’s proposed New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the three-language formula. The southern state, which has been vociferous against the Centre, will seek legal recourse in the Supreme Court. 

 

Releasing the book 'Madhayaanai' (The Rogue Elephant), authored by Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Stalin accused the Union government of trying to “saffronise” education. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the Centre is trying to erase the celebration of diversity in the country. “The only way to stop the saffronisation is to start a campaign to bring education back to the state list,” he noted. 

 

Stating that the state would soon approach the Supreme Court seeking to direct the Union government to release Rs 2,152 crore due to the state under the Sarava Sikhsha Abhigyan (SSA), Stalin said, “The funds rightfully belonged to Tamil Nadu as recommended by the parliamentary standing committee on education.” The first copy of the book released by Stalin was received by former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress MP Digvijay Singh. Singh heads the parliamentary standing committee on education. 

 

“The NEP will destroy our pluralistic culture, and the BJP and RSS’s sole aim is to dismantle India’s unity and impose a unitary, Sanskritised national identity. We are fighting because the NEP will undermine the reservations of the oppressed and the marginalised. Only as long as reservation exists, the oppressed and the backward communities will have access to higher education,” Stalin said while speaking during the book launch. 

 

Criticising the Union government for withholding the funds under the SSA to the tune of Rs 2,152 crore, Stalin termed it as “petty politics” by the BJP. “The Tamil Nadu government will certainly move the Supreme Court against this injustice. Just as we have secured landmark judgments protecting states’ rights, I am confident we will win this case too.” 

 

Recalling Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement that NEP 2020 will promote Sanskrit, the chief minister said the former's statement has only reaffirmed what the DMK has been “warning” in the past. “This is an attempt to destroy languages like Tamil. We must intensify our struggle to bring back language to the state list from the concurrent list,” he said.

 

Speaking after receiving the first copy of the book, Singh said RSS was behind the formulation of the NEP 2020. Coming from the heartland of the RSS, he said, the RSS has been “using education to poison and influence the minds of youngsters.” He also noted that the NEP 2020 violates a number of articles in the constitution. He said the Congress will stand with the DMK and other like-minded parties in their fight to protect democracy and to stop the rogue elephant in its tracks. 

 

Earlier, former Supreme Court judge Justice Gopala Gowda said that the NEP 2020 ignores the federal features of the constitution by ignoring the role of state governments. He said the governors cannot bulldoze the legislature and lauded Stalin for securing a landmark judgement. 

 

India