"Assault on linguistic, cultural identity of Tamil Nadu": Karti Chidambaram amid chaos over NEP

Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 23 (ANI): Amid chaos over the proposed National Education Policy (NEP), Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Sunday said that the three language policy was an "assault" on the linguistic and cultural identity of Tamil Nadu while daring the ruling party in the centre to contest the upcoming 2026 assembly elections solo.
"It is an assault on the linguistic and cultural identity of Tamil Nadu. The BJP should contest the 2026 elections in Tamil Nadu without an alliance because no other political party supports NEP here," Chidambaram, Lok Sabha MP, told ANI.
Asserting that Tamil Nadu can't be held at ransom, he said that the entire state rejects the NEP being pushed by the BJP government in the centre. He said that any talks about three-language policy by the centre was a code of "Hindi imposition."
"There is absolute unanimity in Tamil Nadu in rejecting the NEP of the BJP's central government. Tamil Nadu cannot be held at ransom and be forced to implement a three-language policy in state government schools. Every time the central government talks about the three-language policy, it is code for Hindi imposition," Chidambaram said.
Chidambaram questioned whether there was any state in north India that teaches a south Indian language in government schools.
"What is the third language that they are teaching in the government schools in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh? Is there any northern state that teaches a south Indian language?" the Congress MP asked.
Earlier, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) spokesperson TKS Elangovan raised significant concerns over its implications on education in Tamil Nadu, accusing the central government of using the policy to "impose religious ideas on the education system."
As this happened, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai accused certain political parties of making "unnecessary controversy" and trying to divide the country on the basis of language, taking a veiled jibe at DMK which has alleged that the union government is trying to impose Hindi over non-Hindi speaking states.
"Some political parties still want to divide our country based on language. Mother tongue is important for everyone. Mahakavi Bharati called Tamil the greatest language after knowing more than 10 languages. So people should study more languages," he said. (ANI)