Tamil Nadu's new Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government, led by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, has firmly reaffirmed its commitment to the state's decades-old two-language policy, with School Education Minister Rajmohan declaring on Tuesday, 19 May that the Tamil and English formula will remain unchanged under the current administration. The announcement came after Rajmohan's first review meeting with senior officials of the School Education Department in Chennai.

Minister's Position on Language Policy

'English seems to be enough, and TVK will not yield to any form of indirect pressure,' Rajmohan told reporters, adding: 'There is no compromise on the party's principles and ideology.' He described the two-language system as 'TVK's declared ideology' — not merely an administrative arrangement, but a reflection of the state's broader commitment to protecting Tamil culture while equipping students with English for opportunities beyond Tamil Nadu and abroad.

The Minister underlined that Tamil, as the mother tongue, would remain the primary language for communication within the state, while English would serve as the medium to engage with the wider world.

Pushback Against the Three-Language Formula

Rajmohan's remarks come amid renewed pressure from the Union government to implement the three-language formula through centrally sponsored initiatives, including the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme. Asked whether Tamil Nadu would join PM SHRI in its present form, the Minister said the state would first assess whether the scheme's conditions aligned with Tamil Nadu's educational goals before taking a final decision.

This is consistent with the posture of successive Tamil Nadu governments, which have historically resisted the Centre's three-language formula — a fault line that has periodically sharpened relations between Chennai and New Delhi.

Withheld Central Funds a Flashpoint

'We have not received the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds for the past two years, which is a huge tragedy for the students and the education sector,' Rajmohan said, adding that these funds were meant for students and not for officials. He reiterated that despite the funding dispute, the state would not yield to indirect pressure on the language question.

The withholding of SSA funds adds a financial dimension to what is otherwise a political and cultural standoff, with the Minister framing it as a consequence of Tamil Nadu's principled stance rather than administrative failure.

The Singapore Argument

Drawing on an international example, Rajmohan cited Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who reportedly transformed the country from poverty into a global hub by choosing English — rather than Mandarin or any other language — as the bridge to the world. The Minister invoked this to argue that Tamil Nadu's two-language model is both culturally grounded and pragmatically sound.

Broader Ideology of the TVK Government

Rajmohan also stated that women's rights and the rights of the soil form core pillars of the TVK government's ideology, situating the language policy within a wider framework of cultural self-respect and social equity. The government's stand, he said, was a matter of both identity and practical empowerment for Tamil Nadu's students.

With the Centre's PM SHRI scheme still under evaluation and SSA funds pending, the language dispute between Tamil Nadu and the Union government is likely to remain a defining early test for the TVK administration.