The National Education Policy row has intensified with Southern states protesting against the three-language policy. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin is leading the opposition protest on the issue and has even termed the NEP a ‘saffron policy’. Now, the Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai has hit back at the ruling DMK minister while sharing a video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who hails from Madurai.

Stalin’s ‘Saffron Policy’ Charge 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday alleged that it was not the National Education Policy but a ‘saffron policy’ aimed at developing Hindi and not the nation.

“We oppose NEP as it will completely destroy Tamil Nadu’s education growth. The NEP does not accept reservation that is social justice. This policy denies the assistance amount to SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes,” Stalin alleged.

Stalin further said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I have an appeal! Try to develop India rather than Hindi. Sanskrit cannot be developed even if you spend thousands of crores. You will spend crores to develop a language that is not spoken by the people. Will you betray our Tamil language that is recognised in several countries and spoken by the people?”

BJP Counters DMK Claim

Taking to X, BJP Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai said that the DMK minister’s son studied French and English as the two-language policy and not the Tamil and English/French. 

Hitting back at Tamil Nadu Minister Dr P Thiaga Rajan, Annamalai said, “Learnt about DMK Minister Thiru Thiaga Rajan’s response to my question yesterday on the hypocrisy of DMK Ministers allowing their children/ grandchildren to learn three languages in school while compelling Govt school students to learn only two languages. Thiru PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan responded that his sons had a two-language formula during their schooling but did not mention which those two languages were. That two-language formula was – First language – English, Second language – French/ Spanish. Is this the two-language formula of the TN Govt?”

Learnt about DMK Minister Thiru @ptrmadurai avl’s response to my question yesterday on the hypocrisy of DMK Ministers allowing their children/ grandchildren to learn three languages in school while compelling Govt school students to learn only two languages.

Thiru PTR Palanivel… pic.twitter.com/X5BFhGghrw
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) March 13, 2025

Sharing an old interview video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the BJP leader said, “We are only asking why the TN govt is stopping our Govt school students from learning an Indian language as their third language, along with Tamil & English and even an international language as a third language at the secondary level, as proposed in NEP 2020. While we wish both his sons the best in scaling greater heights in their respective careers, we also want our govt school students to have a similar opportunity to learn multiple languages. Additionally, Google CEO Thiru Sundar Pichai studied three languages in his school, including Hindi, contrary to Thiaga Rajan’s claim.”

The DMK has sparked a political storm over the NEP’s three-language policy alleging that the Narendra Modi government is trying to impose Hindi on southern states, a charge rejected by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.