PM Modi visits Rameswaram amid ongoing education policy row with Tamil Nadu government

Rameswaram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Rameswaram on Sunday to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of several development projects, including Asia’s first vertical lift railway bridge.

His visit came amid a continuing standoff between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government over the new education policy and the proposed three-language formula.

Notably, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin did not receive the Prime Minister at the airport. The state government has been opposing the implementation of the new education policy for the past two months, particularly its provision to introduce Hindi as a medium of instruction alongside Tamil and English.

During a public meeting in Rameswaram, PM Modi indirectly addressed the language row without naming CM Stalin or the DMK.

“I request the state government to teach medicine in Tamil. I receive letters from many Tamil Nadu leaders, but surprisingly, none of them sign in Tamil. To make Tamils proud, they should sign in the local language,” he said.

The DMK has been vocal in its resistance to the Centre’s push for the three-language policy, calling it an imposition on the state’s linguistic identity.