Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accuses Tamil Nadu govt of 'U-turn' on NEP, DMK protests

New Delhi: Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed angry protests by DMK MPs following Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s remarks finding fault with Tamil Nadu government for refusing to implement the National Education Policy and accusing it of doing a “U-turn” on the issue for “politics”.

Senior DMK MP Kanimozhi submitted a privilege notice against Pradhan accusing him of using “intemperate” remarks like “mislead”, “dishonest”, “undemocratic” and “uncivilised” against her and DMK MPs among others, even as the minister “withdrew word” that have hurt their sentiments.

The Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for around 30 minutes during Question Hour following DMK protest, which was joined by Congress and other parties.

When the House reconvened, Kanimozhi said she was “very pained and hurt” by a particular word used by the minister, which he withdrew, but insisted that the DMK MPs had initially agreed with him but later “unfortunately” went back on their word.

The protest started when Pradhan was replying to a supplementary question by DMK MP T Sumathy on the Union government not releasing funds for the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme. He said, “They (DMK) are dishonest and they are ruining the future of the students of Tamil Nadu. They are misleading the people.”

DMK MPs hit back saying they had clearly told the minister that they cannot accept the NEP “in full” and the three-language formula was “not acceptable” to Tamil Nadu. They also said the Centre cannot stop the release of budgetary allocation for education citing non-implementation of the NEP.

Pradhan claimed that the Tamil Nadu government had initially agreed to sign the MoU for implementing the NEP but it has now changed the stand, while many non-BJP-ruled states, including Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, have signed the agreement.

He also said the state government had initially agreed to the PM SHRI scheme and DMK MPs too conveyed the same to him. “But when they went back, they made a U-turn. They are doing mischief with the lives of the students. They are misleading the people and doing injustice to the students of Tamil Nadu. They are undemocratic,” he claimed.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had also agreed initially “but suddenly some super CM appeared and they took a U-Turn. They just want to do politics,” he said.

DMK MPs rose in protest against the remarks, prompting Speaker Om Birla to urge the protesting lawmakers to return to their seats. As Congress and other parties joined the protest, Birla adjourned the House till 12 noon.

As Kanimozhi expressed her disapproval of his remarks, Pradhan said, “My esteemed colleague, one of my dearest sisters and senior member Kanimozhi has raised two points… She said that I have used a word which I should not have used for the members from Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu government and people of Tamil Nadu. Let's not mix it… I withdraw my word if it has hurt anyone. I have no issues with that.”

However, he added, “We have agreed on certain things. They went back and mentioned this to the chief minister who has also given his consent to go ahead. Later, they told me informally that certain issues had come up. This is unfortunate.”