NEW DELHI: A war of words brewed between Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin on Monday after the Dravidian leader accused the the central government of withholding funds from states that had performed well but were against the National Education Policy (NEP). The charge was followed by a barb from the Union minister, who accused the DMK chief of sowing discord among the states over the NEP. Pradhan responded to these allegations on X, saying that while healthy competition among states is valuable in a democratic setup, using it to "pit states against each other" contradicts the principles of the Constitution and the concept of national unity.
"NEP 2020 was formulated through a wide range of consultations and embodies the collective wisdom of the people of India," Pradhan wrote on X. Pradhan questioned Stalin's"principled" opposition to the NEP, asking if his concerns were tied to matters like education in Tamil, exams held in Indian languages, or the creation of educational material in those languages “Are you against education in mother tongues, including Tamil? Do you oppose conducting exams in Indian languages such as Tamil? Are you against developing textbooks and content in these languages? Do you reject the NEP's holistic, multi-disciplinary, equitable, futuristic, and inclusive framework?” Pradhan asked. On Monday, DMK and chief minister Stalin, who have opposed the National Education Policy (NEP) since its introduction,.