Tamil Nadu Congress chief hits out at Governor, says state will never accept NEP

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress chief B Manickam Tagore on Tuesday (July 14) launched a blistering attack on Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, asserting that the state will never accept the NEP, which he alleged is a tool to impose the RSS’s "politics of hate."

Criticising the governor's recent remarks advocating for the NEP and expressing regret over the inability to implement the traditional "Gurukul" system, Tagore, in a statement, warned the Lok Bhavan against encroaching upon the educational rights of a democratically elected state government.

"The governor must realise that Tamil Nadu will never accept the National Education Policy (NEP), which imposes the RSS's politics of hate," he said.

"Ever since the BJP government led by Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre, it has been systematically dismantling and destroying the education system built during the Congress regime since the days of Pandit Nehru," he alleged.

Stating that "education for all" was the sole objective of the Congress government, Tagore said, "Under the BJP regime, in the name of merit, quality, nationalism, and patriotism, there is a deliberate attempt to make education the exclusive property of only a select few and this is because discrimination and fascism form the foundational ideology of the BJP".

Pointing out that education falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution, Tagore said, "State governments have been successfully running schools, colleges, and universities and yet, without consulting the state governments, the Centre has arbitrarily formulated the NEP with the sole intent of imposing RSS's hatred and fundamentalism".

"Governor Arlekar’s speech demanding that Tamil Nadu accept this policy is highly condemnable and he must stop poking his nose into the educational rights of Tamil Nadu. A governor must only voice the policies of the state government elected by the people", he said.

Alledging that the previous Governor, R N Ravi, acted against the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu and was repeatedly pulled up by the Supreme Court, he said, "It is unacceptable that Governor Arlekar, failing to learn a lesson from that, is treading the same path as Ravi".

Stating that the democratically elected Tamil Nadu government was fully capable of deciding what kind of education policy the state needs, he claimed that "the governor and the BJP who have been rejected by the people of Tamil Nadu need not worry about it".

Alledging that the "Gurukul" system of education was an integral part of "Varnashrama Dharma" (the caste hierarchy), Tagore said, "It is shocking that the governor has advocated for it. He must tender an apology to the people of Tamil Nadu for these remarks".