Slamming Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his statement that Tamil Nadu won’t get funds till the state accepted the three-language formula of the New Education Policy, Chief Minister MK Stalin called it a sheer blackmail and said ‘Tamils will not tolerate the arrogance’ of imposing Hindi.

“We are demanding our legitimate right! Delhi, speaking with arrogance as if we are asking for your private property, would be shown the real face of the Tamils,” Stalin fumed in a post on his ‘X’ handle on Sunday.

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He was reacting to a statement made by Pradhan before the media at the ‘Kashi Tamil Sangam’ that Tamil Nadu had to accept the three-language formula like other states for funds to be disbursed. He also maintained that the state initially accepted it but had backtracked due to politics.

Since 1967, when the DMK under CN Annadurai came to power, the state had been following the two language formula – Mother tongue Tamil and English. And the state boasts of the highest Gross Enrollment ratio of 47 in higher education, the highest in the country.

Questioning the constitutionality of the three-language formula, Stalin wrote: “They have to come to terms with the Indian Constitution, says the Union Education Minister and calls the three-language formula as the ‘rule of law’. Can he say which Article of the Constitution makes this mandatory?”

“India is a Union of States! Education is in the Concurrent List for which the Union Government can’t claim entire ownership as its fiefdom!” he added.

“Blackmailing Tamil Nadu with thuggish arrogance that the state won’t be given funds (meant for education under the SSA Scheme) till it accepts the three-language formula can’t be tolerated by the Tamils,” he said with a hashtag #StopHindiImposition.

Recently, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi clarified that the Rs 3,533 crore was approved for the state under the SSA, of which the Union government’s share of Rs 2.152 crore is yet to be released. The Union Education Ministry is liking its release with the state accepting the PMSHRI scheme which makes the three-language formula compulsory.

Except Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal, all states have released funds to the tune of Rs 17, 632 crore for the year 2024-25. Poyyamozhi had made it clear that the state would approach the judiciary if funds were further delayed.