Tamil Nadu CM Stalin Criticizes Union Government Over State Rights

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Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Sunday that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government has faced consistent challenges in protecting Tamil Nadu’s rights over the past four years under what he described as an adversarial Union government.

In a letter to party members ahead of the death anniversary of former Chief Minister and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, Stalin claimed that the state has endured significant economic consequences due to decisions made by the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government. These included agreeing to the implementation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions, adopting the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) for electricity distribution, and raising property taxes.

Stalin said his government has taken steps to address these issues by raising concerns in Parliament and pursuing legal remedies in the courts. He also alleged that the Union government has given greater financial support to Sanskrit compared to Tamil, despite Tamil being the first language to be recognized as classical.

The Chief Minister criticized the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, stating that it could undermine regional languages and bring back caste-based educational barriers, affecting marginalized and backward communities. He also expressed concerns over what he described as attempts to impose Hindi and “Aryan cultural dominance” while withholding the publication of research on the Keeladi archaeological excavations, which some scholars believe highlight the antiquity of Tamil civilization.

Addressing state-center relations, Stalin said that the Tamil Nadu government’s legal challenges in the Supreme Court have reinforced the authority of elected state administrations. He claimed that this has strengthened democratic processes not just for Tamil Nadu but for other states as well.

He also criticized the AIADMK for its political alignment with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing it of failing to defend the state’s interests. According to Stalin, this stance has caused dissatisfaction among the AIADMK’s own supporters.

The statement comes amid ongoing political disputes between the DMK-led state government and the BJP-led Union government on a range of policy and administrative issues. With national and state-level elections on the horizon, the political exchange between the two parties is expected to intensify.