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National award-winning director Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s politically-charged speech likening the National Education Policy (NEP) to the Aryan tradition that denied equal education to all has triggered a controversy. The director made the comment in reference to the BJP-led Union government’s refusal to disburse the Rs 2,000 crore fund for the Tamil Nadu Education Department entitled under the PM Schools for Rising India scheme.
Speaking at the ‘Kalviyil Sirantha Tamil Nadu’ event organised by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Tamil Nadu government, the Super Deluxe fame director praised Chief Minister MK Stalin's efforts to promote literacy in the state by introducing the free breakfast scheme and other welfare programmes.
Quoting the book Viveka Chintamani, Thiagarajan Kumararaja said that only education has the power to treat people as equals. “This is the reason education has been denied to all for centuries,” he said.
Differentiating between the Aryan ideology and the Dravidian ideology, he said, “We should learn why we lost education. There are two ideologies regarding education: one, the Dravidian ideology that wants everyone to be educated and remain intellectual, and second, the Aryan ideology. In Aryan ideology, a student who wanted to learn was denied education by asking which caste they belonged to. The student later learnt archery by himself and when he appeared before the guru, he took away his thumb,” Kumararaja said, referring to the legend of Dronacharya and Ekalavya.
“Dronacharya denied education to warrior Karna, citing the same reason. When Karna got educated from Kripacharya by lying about his caste, he cursed him with amnesia,” the director narrated.
He said that from Dronacharya and Kripacharya to C Rajagopalachari, the former Governor-General of India, everyone wanted to obstruct people of all castes from getting equally educated. Rajagopalachari had introduced the Modified Scheme of Elementary Education in 1953, which required students to split their time between formal classroom learning and their family’s caste occupation. This policy was severely criticised for re-perpetuating the caste system.
Kumararaja said that in defiance of the Aryan ideology, the DMK government has introduced several schemes to ensure education for all. “There is the free breakfast scheme, Naan Mudhalvan scheme, Tamil Pudhalvan scheme—the government is introducing a series of schemes to make education accessible to all.”
“Like they asked for the thumb, and gave amnesia to Karna, now they have introduced a National Education Policy to prevent you all from getting educated,” he said.
Further showering praises on CM Stalin, he said, “There is a government that is antithetical to our ideology and governance at the Union. Without any help, when the government threw [Stalin] in the sea with his limbs bound, he not only swam across but ensured that the state too reached the shore. For these efforts, I want to congratulate the Chief Minister.”
The Union government has refused to disburse Rs 2,000 crore to the Tamil Nadu government for refusing to implement the NEP. The DMK government has opposed the NEP as they allege that it would lead to Hindi imposition and threaten the Tamil language and culture.