Kanimozhi and Annamalai in war of words over language row

Chennai, Mar 4 (PTI) Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai slammed the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday claiming politics took precedence for that party over children's future.

In a heightened war of words on the National Education Policy (NEP), DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi dared Annamalai to ensure the Centre released the education funds, ‘if he truly cared.’

Maintaining that Tamil Nadu would never accept ‘BJP’s agenda of misinformation, financial strangulation, and Hindi imposition,’ Kanimozhi said in a post on social media platform X “Thiru @annamalai_k, the world knows how BJP manipulates data — Dr Parakala Prabhakar exposed it in The Crooked Timber of New India: Essays on a Republic in Crisis.”

BJP thrived on selectively quoting statistics, twisting numbers to fit its propaganda, the DMK MP from Thoothukudi said and added that the ASER data was ‘cooked up,’ and this was the reason why DMK government was conducting its own survey on the real impact of education policies.

Even the 2025 Economic Survey praised Tamil Nadu for revolutionising education through landmark schemes like Illam Thedi Kalvi, Ennum Ezhuthum and the breakfast scheme for school children. Unlike BJP-ruled states struggling with literacy, the DMK invested in our students’ future, she said.

“You claim to care about Tamil Nadu’s students — then why has your government withheld Rs 2,152 crore in Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds rightfully owed to Tamil Nadu? If you truly care, tell your union government to release these funds instead of preaching to us,” Kanimozhi said in the post.

She lashed out at the Centre for allegedly removing German and other foreign languages from Kendriya Vidyalayas while continuing to impose Hindi and Sanskrit, depriving students of global exposure while pushing BJP’s divisive ideological agenda.

“If you are truly advocating for a three-language policy, give us the data about how many KV schools teach Tamil? Do you even know that many KVs in Tamil Nadu don’t have Tamil teachers?” she asked.

Responding, Annamalai in a lengthy post on X said “Anbu Akka Tmt @KanimozhiDMK, if the GOI-published data is critical of the TN Govt, you would call it biased. If the data is appreciative, you will publish it on the front page.”

The pseudo-truth environment that the DMK wished to construct will be dismantled even if the TN government commissioned a survey to understand the quality of education imparted.

“We are confident that the results would point out the deteriorating education standards in TN today under your brother’s regime,” he said.

Schemes like the Ennum ezhuthum, illam thedi kalvi and morning breakfast scheme were proposed in NEP2020 / Samagra Siksha and as an MP, she ought to have known that many NEP recommendations were rolled out in other states even before they were introduced in TN without the effort of having to invent a new name for pasting stickers.

“For DMK, politics takes precedence over the future of our children. Did @BJP4TamilNadu compel the DMK Govt to send a letter to the Central Govt committing that PM Shri would be implemented starting this academic year?” he asked.

“The PM Shri subsumed many aspects of Samagra Siksha, even if you and the part-time school education minister of TN say otherwise in front of the media. Your brother and nephew have been avoiding answering this question. Would you at least care to answer?” Annamalai asked.

He sought to know why an opportunity to learn a third language was denied to state government school students when it is provided to CBSE/ Matriculation school students, including private schools run by the DMK family. PTI