MK Stalin's ‘beehive’ warning to Centre after Dharmendra Pradhan shot letter over NEP language row in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Friday escalated the ongoing language row, responding to Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's call to "rise above politics". MK Stalin reaffirmed the state's commitment to its two-language policy and cautioned the Centre against "throwing stones at a beehive".

Dharmendra Pradhan advised MK Stalin after the latter wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the linking of two centrally sponsored programmes with the National Education Policy (NEP). The education minister asked the Tamil Nadu chief minister to rise above political differences and "think about the interests of the young learners".

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the ruling-party in Tamil Nadu, has been refusing to implement the NEP and three-language policy, involving the necessity of Hindi, asking the Centre to not "impose" the language. The DMK alleged that the Centre was holding the state's funds over it for the implementation of the policy.