Tamil Nadu Health Minister Dr K.G. Arunraj on 7 October 2026 accused the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of politicising the use of Hindi on medicine envelopes at government medical college hospitals in Karur and Coimbatore, alleging the disputed packaging was procured and circulated during the party's own tenure in office. The minister said both hospitals had immediately stopped using the envelopes once the matter came to the government's attention.

What the minister alleged

Arunraj maintained that the present administration — led by the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam — had made no alterations to the designs or language formats inherited from the previous government. He accused the DMK of concealing the procurement history of the envelopes and misleading the public by attributing responsibility to the current dispensation. He characterised the party's criticism as a deliberate attempt to exploit Tamil language sentiments for political advantage.

The Karur and Coimbatore procurement trail

Explaining the Karur case, the minister said medicine envelopes at the Karur Government Medical College Hospital are ordinarily supplied by the central prison, carrying dosage instructions — morning, afternoon, and night — exclusively in Tamil. A shortage of prison-supplied envelopes in December 2025 triggered an emergency order for four lakh envelopes through the Erode District Printing Industrial Cooperative Society. According to Arunraj, the order was placed on 31 December 2025 while the DMK was in office, and the envelopes were distributed to patients in January 2026 — also under that administration.

At the Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital, the minister said the disputed envelope format had been printed through the Chinthamani Cooperative Society and approved through administrative procedures three years earlier, again during DMK rule. He questioned how the party could now hold the current government accountable for a format its own administration had sanctioned and put into circulation.

Government's stand on the two-language policy

Reaffirming Tamil Nadu's two-language policy, Arunraj stated that the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam would not compromise on the issue. He said the current administration had purchased supplies only to meet stock requirements and had retained the existing format without modifying its design or language content. He added that the government had acted decisively by withdrawing the envelopes as soon as the controversy surfaced.

Call for constructive opposition

The minister urged the DMK to function as a responsible and constructive opposition rather than exploiting linguistic controversies for political attacks. He argued that the procurement records exposed inconsistencies in the party's allegations, and accused it of remaining silent when the envelopes were first introduced and distributed under its watch. This is not the first time language politics has inflamed Tamil Nadu's public discourse — disputes over Hindi's presence in public signage, central schemes, and government stationery have been recurring flashpoints in the state for decades.