11 hours ago
The State will neither forgive nor forget ‘anti-Tamil Nadu policies' of BJP, says TNCC president Selvaperunthagai
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K. Selvaperunthagai on Monday responded to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that a BJP-AIADMK government would be formed in the State in 2026, saying the State would neither forget nor forgive the 'anti-Tamil Nadu policies' of the BJP-led government at the Centre. He said a BJP government in Tamil Nadu would always remain a 'mirage'.
In a statement, he termed as hypocritical Mr. Shah's remarks that he regretted he couldn't speak Tamil. '...what better proof is needed of the government's betrayal than the fact that it had allocated only ₹24 crore over three years for Classical Tamil, while granting ₹664 crore for Sanskrit, a language spoken by only 24,000 people? How will Mr. Shah answer for depriving Tamil Nadu of ₹2,152 crore under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan as a punishment for opposing Hindi imposition through the National Education Policy? Since 1968, Tamil Nadu has followed the two-language policy of Tamil and English,' he said.
As for Mr. Shah's claims about the grant of more funds to Tamil Nadu, Mr. Selvaperunthagai said, 'According to official data, in the past seven years, the BJP-led government at the Centre has collected ₹7.38 lakh crore in direct taxes, the GST, and cesses from Tamil Nadu, but returned only ₹2.56 lakh crore to the State. After exploiting Tamil Nadu financially, what evidence does Mr. Shah have to prove his claim that more funds have been given to the State?'
