TNCC Chief B Manickam Tagore Rejects National Education Policy After Governor Remarks
On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president B Manickam Tagore strongly rejected the National Education Policy (NEP) in Chennai, declaring that the state of Tamil Nadu will never accept its imposition. Tagore's statement was issued as a direct rebuttal to recent comments made by Tamil Nadu Governor R V Arlekar, who had publicly supported the educational policy.
According to Tagore, the NEP represents an attempt by the BJP-led Union government to push the ideological agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) through the national education system. The TNCC president asserted that Tamil Nadu would never accept an educational framework that he claimed seeks to impose RSS politics of hatred.
The conflict intensified following Governor Arlekar's address at a university convocation ceremony in Chennai. During the event, Arlekar stated that while certain aspects of the NEP could be questioned, the policy could not be rejected outright. In remarks that were seen as a justification of the ancient gurukul system of education, the Governor had also noted that variations of this traditional system still exist in England.
Tagore strongly condemned the Governor's remarks, alleging that the BJP-led Union government is actively dismantling an education framework that was built over several decades by successive Congress administrations, dating back to the time of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. He argued that while the Congress party has consistently championed the principle of 'education for all', the BJP is attempting to advance an exclusionary model under the guise of promoting quality, nationalism, and patriotism.
Furthermore, Tagore pointed out that education is a subject on the concurrent list. He argued that the Union government had framed the NEP without conducting adequate consultations with the state governments, and is now attempting to impose the policy across the country.
The TNCC president concluded his statement by urging Governor Arlekar to refrain from intervening in the education policy of Tamil Nadu.
