New Delhi [India], March 10 : Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi moved a breach of privilege notice against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday, seeking action against the minister for "contempt of the House" while he was replying to a question regarding the non-disbursal of funds by the union government under the Samagra Shiksha scheme.
DMK MP T Sumathy raised the supplementary question.
"When I attempted to clarify the misleading statement of the Minister (Pradhan) who referred me in his reply, the Honourable Union Minister for Education at that point of time made highly malicious, misleading and defamatory remarks and statements which not only misled the House but also constitute a breach of privilege and amount to contempt of the House," Karunanidhi said in her notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
According to Karunanidhi's notice, Pradhan's claim that the Tamil Nadu government took a "U-turn" after agreeing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of India for accepting the PM-SHRI scheme is "factually incorrect, misleading the house and against official record."
Earlier, Pradhan said, "DMK MPs, including the member who raised the question (Karunanidhi) and the Tamil Nadu Education Minister, met him and initially agreed with the PM-SHRI scheme but later changed their stand."
Responding to this, the DMK MP said that Union Minister Pradhan's statement was "utterly baseless, and knowing it to be false has made it to mislead the house and people and tarnish the image of Tamil Nadu."
The DMK MP said that Pradhan's remarks and accusations against Tamil Nadu's public representatives also targeted the state's people.
"The (Union Education) Minister used intemperate remarks such as 'mislead,' 'dishonest,' 'undemocratic,' and 'uncivilised' against me and my parliamentary colleagues from the DMK and other supporting parties and also made baseless accusations against an entire group of elected representatives from Tamil Nadu, which in tum reflects the people of Tamil Nadu," the notice read.
Karunanidhi further stated in the notice that the Union Education Minister's remarks amounted to "casting reflections and aspersions on her dignity and integrity and as well that of DMK MPs and allies, thereby violating the parliamentary privileges and rights."
Earlier, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan strongly criticised the DMK regarding the ongoing controversy over the three-language policy in the New Education Policy.
During his address in Lok Sabha, Pradhan accused the DMK of being "dishonest" and playing "politics" at the cost of Tamil Nadu students' futures.
"They (DMK) are dishonest. They are not committed to the students of Tamil Nadu. They are ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students. Their only job is to raise language barriers. They are doing politics. They are making mischief. They are undemocratic and uncivilised," Pradhan said.
In the Rajya Sabha, the DMK staged a walkout after raising the issue of the three-language policy and delimitation.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK party chief MK Stalin lashed out at Dharmendra Pradhan, who, during Lok Sabha proceedings today, termed the State government "dishonest" and "ruining" the future of students.
In a strongly worded post in Tamil on his X platform, Stalin called out the Union Minister's "arrogance" and said he was speaking like an "arrogant king." The one who had "disrespected" the people of Tamil Nadu "needs to be disciplined."
The controversy stems from the ongoing debate over the National Education Policy (NEP), particularly the contentious three-language policy, which Tamil Nadu strongly opposes.