Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on 11 March 2025, launched a sharp attack on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), accusing the party of double standards on the Tamil language. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, she stated that the party idolizes a person who once described Tamil as a “barbaric” language that “cannot even help beggars get alms.”
While Sitharaman did not explicitly name the person, her remarks appeared to be directed at E.V. Ramasamy, also hailed as Periyar by his followers.
She said, “I do not want to name him, but the moment I read the passages, anyone with even a faint familiarity with Tamil will know who I am referring to,” she said, quoting statements from various Tamil magazines.
She further said, “Sir, for just saying your protests are uncivil, they made the education minister to withdraw his statement. When a man repeatedly says, Tamil is a barbaric language, (katumirandi bashai), look at their hypocrisy, they keep his photo in every room. I am sure even in the Parliament office of that party, his photo is there. They garland him and they worship him and they say he is the icon of the Dravidian movement. But he said, Tamil is katumirandi bashai. So sir, I am saying, unbelievable that this person is worshipped but our poor Dharmendra Pradhan just said don’t do uncivil protest, he is being accused. And if their love for Tamil is so much how can they worship somebody who said Tamil is a katumirandi bashai?”
"Periyar who repeatedly said Tamil is a barbaric language is worshipped by Stalin gang. They consider him an icon of Dravidian movement"
FM brutally destroyed the Stalin gang 😹pic.twitter.com/OcnOlUHJtu
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) March 11, 2025
Pradhan had earlier alleged that the DMK was being dishonest and ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students by opposing the NEP for political reasons. He accused the party of misleading the people and doing a U-turn on the education policy.
The DMK, however, rejected the criticism, stating that Tamil Nadu had conveyed its opposition to the NEP’s three-language formula. The party argued that budget allocations for education should not be withheld over policy disagreements.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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