Teach engineering, medicine in Tamil: Shah targets Stalin amid language row

Chennai: Amid the language debate, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reminded Chief Minister M K Stalin about his request to introduce medical and engineering courses in Tamil medium in Tamil Nadu.

The statement by Shah comes at a time the Tamil Nadu and Union governments are involved in a battle over the former’s refusal to implement a three-language policy as part of the National Education Policy 2020.

“There was no way that aspirants could write CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) exams in Tamil. But it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made this happen. I now request Chief Minister Stalin to introduce MBBS and engineering courses in Tamil as well. I have been demanding this for the past two years but nothing has happened,” Shah added.

However, the DMK took objection to Shah’s statement saying it was the UPA government which allowed aspirants to write CAPF exams in Tamil and other languages.

But the BJP changed the rules saying the exams can be written only in Hindi or English only to revert to the old practice.

Shah said several states had already introduced medical and engineering education in regional languages.

However, Tamil Nadu was one of the first states to have introduced Tamil medium in engineering courses in 2010 under the DMK government led by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. But the courses were discontinued in 2023 due to poor response from students.