Chennai: Leaders of the DMK and its allies, including the Congress and Left parties, would stage a ‘massive protest’ here on February 18 to condemn Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre for its “betrayal” of Tamil Nadu by “denying funds” and insisting on the NEP, the ruling Dravidian party said here on Monday.
Against the background of Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK, main Opposition AIADMK and other parties, barring the BJP, opposing the Centre for its insistence of the NEP and the three language norm, the Chief Minister MK Stalin-led party accused the Centre of making all efforts to impinge on the rights of the state and said the scheduled demonstration is only an initial step.
“Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is intimidating saying the Centre will not release funds to Tamil Nadu’s education department till such time the NEP is accepted. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is partial in allocating funds for Tamil Nadu and she is continuously ignoring projects for the state,” the DMK headquarters said in a press release.
The DMK hit out at the Union government for “transgressions” using the office of Governor and for attempting to “damage” the state’s education infrastructure through the UGC. Further, it alleged continuous measures
aimed at “Dravidian-Tamil” hate and steps to impose Hindi under the guise of three language policy.