Chennai, Feb 18 : Tamil Nadu BJP spokesperson and senior party leader A.N.S. Prasad has said the DMK's opposition to the Centre's three-language policy was a direct violation of the Constitutional principles laid down by Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

He said that it was not fair for the Tamil Nadu government to prevent children from learning languages of their choice alongside their mother tongue, Tamil.

Prasad said on Tuesday that the Chief Minister's statement that students will not be permitted to study Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, or Hindi as a third language contradicts the fundamental principles of the Indian Constitution. He said the DMK government's attempts to deny this educational freedom to Tamil Nadu students have been thwarted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai.

He said that now Tamil Nadu students can learn the language of their choice along with Tamil and English.

The BJP spokesperson said that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has assured that the three-language policy will be implemented in Tamil Nadu. He said that since the 1960s, the DMK has misled and brainwashed the public, and it is now engaging in divisive, anti-national, and anti-people politics by opposing the three-language policy. He said that such actions betray students from Tamil Nadu and added that the Chief Minister, who calls himself the 'Father' of Tamil Nadu, has neither the moral right nor the qualification to do so.

The senior BJP leader said the Union government, under Prime Minister Modi, has introduced the 'PM SHRI' scheme to improve government schools as part of the National Education Policy (NEP). He charged that though the DMK initially agreed to implement the scheme, it later withdrew while still demanding the allocated funds.

'As Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan pointed out, funds for a scheme can only be disbursed if the scheme is implemented," Prasad said.

He said that the DMK's agenda has always been to foster anti-India sentiments and sow the seeds of separatist ideologies among the people and that the DMK has now revived false propaganda, alleging that the Centre is imposing Hindi.

Prasad said the new National Education Policy does not mandate Hindi anywhere and added that it only recommends learning any Indian language listed in the Constitution as a third language.

He said that in Tamil Nadu, around 25 per cent of the population speaks Telugu, and there are also significant Kannada and Malayalam-speaking communities.

The senior BJP leader said that the three-language policy would allow these communities to learn their native languages. The DMK, which uses the word 'Dravidian' in its name and constantly speaks about the 'Dravidian Model,' is now denying Dravidian languages their rightful place in Tamil Nadu. 'Is there no space for Dravidian languages in this so-called Dravidian Model?" Prasad said, adding that the three-language policy was already being followed in all private and international schools in Tamil Nadu, including those run by DMK members.

He said, 'In these schools, Hindi is often chosen as the third language. While politicians' children and the wealthy benefit from this multilingual education, the government is depriving economically disadvantaged government school students of the same opportunity."

The senior BJP leader said the DMK was exploiting language sentiments for political gain, using government school students as pawns. He said that the people of Tamil Nadu have seen through this ploy and added that the DMK's language politics will no longer succeed.

The BJP leader also said that the DMK misled Tamil Nadu students during the elections with false promises about NEET exemption, disrupting their dreams and futures. He said that now similarly, the party is trying to stir unrest by opposing the three-language policy ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. Prasad called upon the students, teachers, and parents to recognize these divisive tactics and stand against the DMK's destructive education policies.

/IANS