New Delhi [India], March 10 : Amidst the political war on the National Education Policy, a war of words broke out between Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after Pradhan termed the Tamil Nadu government as "dishonest" and the people of the state as "uncivilised".
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin hit back and accused Pradhan of "arrogance" and of "insulting the people" of Tamil Nadu.
In a strongly worded post in Tamil on his X, Stalin called out the Union Minister's "arrogance" and said that he was speaking like an "arrogant king." The one who had "disrespected" the people of Tamil Nadu "needs to be disciplined."
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the Parliament strongly criticized the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party regarding the 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' future.
"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.
Meanwhile, the DMK hit back with a privilege motion K Kanimozhi submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, 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."
DMK MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu also criticised Dharmendra Pradhan's "uncivilised" remarks about the DMK MPs and said calling them uncivilised is an "unparliamentary word."
"The words that have been used against our Chief Minister and MPs are terrible. I think they have been telling us time again and again that DMK MPs should know how to speak...Uncivilised is not the word we can use even against any human being of this country. That is the most derogatory word which can be used. Calling the MPs uncivilised is an unparliamentary word," Somu told ANI.
Moreover, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Praveen Khandelwal backed Dharmendra Pradhan, saying that the latter has taken back the words he used in the Parliament.
"Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has made this clear in Parliament. He has taken back the words he used. The Lok Sabha Speaker has removed it from the proceedings. If a member makes a statement on a topic that has ended in Parliament, then I feel that parliamentary decorum is not being followed," Khandelwal told ANI.
In the Rajya Sabha, the DMK staged a walkout after raising the issue of the three-language policy and delimitation.
The controversy stems from the ongoing debate over the National Education Policy (NEP), particularly the contentious three-language policy, which Tamil Nadu strongly opposes.