Tamil Nadu’s political landscape is once again dominated by a familiar debate ~ Hindi imposition. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has revived the decades-old resistance against the language, making it a central theme ah ead of next year’s assembly elections. His party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has historically positioned itself as the guardian of Tamil identity, and this controversy plays directly into its hands. The Centre’s actions, how ever, raise questions. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been trying to gain a foothold in Tamil Nadu, with its state president K. Annamalai emerging as a vocal opposition leader.

Yet, by engaging in a public confrontation over language, the BJP risks alienating Tamil voters further. The decision to withhold Samagra Shiksha funds due to nonim plementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) only strengthens the DMK’s narrative of Delhi suppressing Tamil Nadu’s interests. The irony is that the three-language formula is not a BJP creation ~ it dates back to the policies of........

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