Pro-Tamil activists blacken Hindi text on TN railway nameboard

Chennai: Amid ongoing tensions over language policies in Tamil Nadu, pro-Tamil activists blackened the Hindi text on the name board of Pollachi Junction Railway Station on Sunday.

The incident comes against the backdrop of the ruling DMK’s accusations that the Central government is imposing Hindi on the state.

The activists defaced the Hindi lettering of “Pollachi Junction”, prompting railway officials from the Palakkad division to restore it later.

In a statement, the Southern Railway’s Palakkad division said, “Pollachi Railway Protection Force (RPF) identified the offenders and registered a case under relevant provisions of the Railways Act. They will be prosecuted. The defaced text was immediately restored.”

The DMK-led Tamil Nadu government has been vocal in its opposition to what it calls “Hindi imposition” by the Centre, particularly through the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has criticised the policy, arguing that its implementation would push the state back by 2,000 years.

He has clearly said that Tamil Nadu would reject NEP even if the Union government offered Rs 10,000 crore in incentives.

Stalin has also accused the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan of attempting to enforce Hindi through NEP’s three-language formula, which Tamil Nadu opposes.

The Chief Minister reaffirmed that his government would resist any policy that undermines Tamil identity or harms the state’s interests.

Further highlighting the disparity in language funding, Stalin said that while Tamil, spoken by more than eight crore people, has been allocated only Rs 74 crore for development, Sanskrit — a language spoken by only a few thousand — has received Rs 1,488 crore.

The language issue remains a significant political flashpoint in Tamil Nadu.

The ruling DMK and its ally, the AIADMK, have both asserted their commitment to the state’s existing two-language policy, which mandates the teaching of only Tamil and English.

Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has reiterated that Tamil Nadu will not adopt the three-language system proposed under NEP.

The AIADMK, the principal opposition party, has also backed the two-language policy, maintaining that the state’s linguistic autonomy must be preserved.

Adding to the tensions between Tamil Nadu and the Centre, Chief Minister Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release Rs 2,152 crore under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for the state.

In a strongly worded letter, he criticised the Union government for linking SSA funds to the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India or PM SHRI Scheme, arguing that these are two distinct centrally sponsored programmes.

Stalin said that such a move violates the principles of cooperative federalism and negatively impacts thousands of students and teachers in Tamil Nadu.

He accused the Centre of using fund allocation as a coercive measure to pressure states into adopting NEP 2020.

The Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to release SSA funds without any preconditions.

With the debate over language policies intensifying, the standoff between the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre continues to shape the state’s political landscape.

IANS