Amid the ongoing clash between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government over the National Education Policy (NEP) and the three-language formula, Tamil Nadu’s IT and Digital Services Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has escalated the debate, cautioning that India’s future is in jeopardy if regional inequalities persist. Speaking at The Indian Express’s Idea Exchange session, Thiaga Rajan warned that India has no future unless the poor, high-population northern states witness substantial improvements in per capita income and overall outcomes.
Thiaga Rajan also highlighted what he termed as the “increasing net transfers from rich states to poor states,” stressing that the gap has only widened over time. Citing data, he noted, “When this government came to power, for every Re 1 of total grants and scheme taxes given to Tamil Nadu, UP received Rs 2.90. By 2024, it became Re 1 for Tamil Nadu and Rs 4.35 for UP.”
Despite these rising transfers, Thiaga Rajan pointed out that UP’s per capita GDP relative to Tamil Nadu has declined, questioning how equality could ever be achieved under such conditions.
Thiaga Rajan questioned the fairness of ongoing resource transfers, asking, “How are we ever going to achieve equality if you keep taking the money without producing any results? Where does this end?”
Calling himself a “patriot,” he accused the ruling party in Delhi of failing to address structural issues, instead choosing to “berate, browbeat, threaten, extort, and blackmail” southern states like Tamil Nadu. He argued that this was why Tamil Nadu was unwilling to lose further representation.
On the issue of delimitation, Thiaga Rajan criticized the Centre for failing to resolve the matter despite a 50-year freeze on the process. He warned that Tamil Nadu’s diminishing representation in Delhi could weaken the state’s influence.
Regarding the NEP language row, he argued that the core issue was not Tamil Nadu’s refusal to adopt the policy, but whether states like UP and Bihar could even teach one language effectively and improve education outcomes. He emphasized that education was originally a state subject and insisted that Delhi should not dictate how Tamil Nadu manages its schools.
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