Amit Shah’s call to offer engineering, medical education in Tamil and the ground reality

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to introduce medical and engineering courses in Tamil medium in the state.

Shah’s comment comes in the backdrop of Stalin targeting the central government over “Hindi imposition” under the three-language policy, which Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has insisted that Tamil Nadu must implement to receive Rs 2,152 crore in funds for education.

Speaking at a CISF Day event at the newly renamed Rajaditya Chola Recruits Training Centre at Thakkolam in Tamil Nadu’s Ranipet district on Friday, Shah called on the state government to expand Tamil-medium education at the highest levels.

“Tamil Nadu’s culture has strengthened India in every sphere — be it administrative reforms, spiritual heights, education, or national unity… It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who ensured that CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) exams could be taken in Tamil too. I now request Chief Minister Stalin to introduce MBBS and engineering courses in Tamil as well,” Shah said.

He said several states had already introduced medical and engineering education in regional languages. “I have been asking for this for the last two years, but to no avail. I hope the Chief Minister will certainly do something now,” Shah said.

Tamil Nadu has already tried bringing engineering courses in Tamil medium. In 2010, under then-CM M Karunanidhi – Stalin’s father – the government had introduced Tamil-medium Civil and Mechanical Engineering courses at Anna University with the aim of making engineering education more accessible to Tamil-medium students. While the initiative gained traction in the initial period, over the years, it witnessed a steady decline in the number of students. In 2023, Anna University suspended the Tamil-medium courses in at 11 constituent colleges, citing low enrolment. Even though the decision was reversed later on the state higher education department’s request, students’ response has been poor.

The Karunanidhi government had also proposed medical education in Tamil, but the plan never materialised after the DMK lost power in 2011.

The issue of language has once again heated up in Tamil Nadu with a debate over the three-language policy under the National Education Policy (NEP).

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who said Tamil Nadu must implement the policy to receive education funds from the Centre, has accused the DMK government of political posturing. He said the Tamil Nadu government “cannot think they are above the Constitution” and questioned why it alone is resisting a policy implemented across the country.

Pradhan’s remarks have drawn sharp reactions from Tamil Nadu’s ruling and Opposition parties alike.

Chief Minister Stalin has called Pradhan’s remarks “blackmail”, challenging him to cite a constitutional provision that mandates the three-language formula.

On Friday, Stalin accused the Centre of reviving a fight that it “can never win”, and warned against attempts to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu. “Dravidam does not take dictations from Delhi. Instead, it sets the course for the nation to follow. Those who tried to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu have either been defeated or later changed their stance and aligned with the DMK,” he said.

Accusing Pradhan of provoking Tamil Nadu and defending his government’s continued opposition to NEP, Stalin said in a post on X: “The tree may prefer calm, but the wind will not subside. It was the Union Education Minister who provoked us to write this series of letters when we were simply doing our job. He forgot his place and dared to threaten an entire state to accept Hindi imposition, and now he faces the consequences of reviving a fight he can never win. Tamil Nadu will not be blackmailed into surrendering.”

He said “Hindi colonialism” was replacing “British colonialism”, and challenged the BJP to make Hindi imposition its core agenda in the 2026 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

Criticising the BJP’s language policies beyond education, Stalin said, “From the names of schemes to awards of Union government institutions, Hindi has been imposed to a nauseating extent, suffocating non-Hindi speakers who are the majority in India. Men may come, men may go. But even long after the dominance of Hindi is shattered in India, history will remember that it was the DMK that stood as the vanguard.”