Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday challenged Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin to introduce medical and engineering courses in Tamil, retaliating to the DMK’s relentless attacks on the BJP over “Hindi imposition”.
Earlier in the day, Stalin had launched a fusillade at the BJP, calling its campaign for the teaching of Hindi at Tamil Nadu’s schools a “laughing stock” and daring the party to fight next year’s Assembly elections on the plank.
The battle in Tamil Nadu over language and the planned delimitation of constituencies — the DMK alleges a plot to reduce Lok Sabha seats from the south — has intensified ahead of the elections.
The BJP isn’t entirely unhappy at having become the DMK’s main target: it believes this can help it position itself as the principal challenger and make political inroads in the state.
“I want to urge the chief minister of Tamil Nadu to take steps towards introducing a curriculum of medical and engineering courses in the Tamil language as soon as possible,” Shah taunted Stalin from the CISF’s raising day event at Thakkolam in Tamil Nadu.
Moments earlier, he had hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to allow the central paramilitary recruitment exams to be written in 13 Indian languages apart from Hindi (and English), looking to underline the Centre’s commitment to promoting languages such as Tamil.
“I hope he (Stalin) will soon take steps to introduce medical and engineering courses in the Tamil language. I have been urging him for the last two years but no action has been taken,” Shah said.
Ahead of Shah’s visit, Stalin had fired a salvo at the BJP over the three-language formula in the Centre’s new school education policy.
Under the policy, pupils are to learn English, their mother tongue and another Indian language, to be decided by the state government. The DMK sees this as an underhand way of introducing Hindi into the school curriculum in Tamil Nadu, which now teaches only two languages, English and Tamil.
“This is like an LKG student lecturing a PhD holder. Dravidam does not take dictations from Delhi. Instead, it sets the course for the nation to follow,” Stalin said in his post, apparently trying to set a poll agenda based on Dravidian pride and antipathy to “Hindi imposition”.
The Tamil Nadu BJP has launched a signature campaign in support of the three-language formula, arguing it will help TamilNadu youths secure jobs in other regions.
“Now the BJP’s circus-like signature campaign for the three-language formula has become a laughing stock in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin wrote.
“I challenge them to make this their core agenda in the 2026 Assembly elections and let it be a referendum on Hindi imposition.”
He added: “History is clear. Those who tried to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu have either been defeated or later changed their stance and aligned with DMK. Tamil Nadu will not tolerate Hindi colonialism replacing British colonialism.”
While the BJP’s efforts to gain a foothold in Tamil Nadu have for years been frustrated, its performance in last year’s general election has excited the leadership. Despite failing to win any Lok Sabha seat, the BJP saw its vote share reach double digits (11.1 per cent) — that too without an alliance with any Dravidian party.
“Our organisational strength has been growing steadily, and we only need a political spark to capture the voters’ imagination,” a BJP leader said.
“Our relentless efforts have paid dividends in eastern states where we had very little presence, and we are sure of success in Tamil Nadu and Kerala too.”
