TN CM Stalin slams BJP, AIADMK; says DMK committed to protecting rights of Muslims
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, hitting out at the AIADMK and BJP, has assured the Muslim people that the DMK, led by him, will always be a party that protects their rights and secures rights for them.
Stalin slammed the BJP-led Centre over the Waqf law amendment issue and asserted that it was only due to the legal fight of the DMK and others, a stay has been secured from the Supreme Court on provisions of that controversial amendment Act.
The chief minister targeted the AIADMK over issues like the CAA and triple talaq and said due to AIADMK's "betrayal," on such matters, leaders of the main opposition party like Anwar Raja have quit that party and joined the DMK.
Addressing a function here to mark the 1,500th birthday of Prophet Muhammad, Stalin said DMK founder CN Annadurai and late party patriarch M Karunanidhi met for the first time at Tiruvarur in a Milad-un-Nabi event and the bonding that grew between the two leaders was the foundation for Tamil Nadu's growth.
Pointing to the presence of Muslim leaders belonging to various parties, he said unity is the first step towards victory.
Stalin cited the presence of IUML top leader KM Kader Mohideen, MMK chief Prof Jawahirullah, MJK's Thamimun Ansari and SDPI's Nellai Mubarak.
Praising Prophet Muhammad's preachings, the chief minister said reformist leader Periyar EVR and iconic leaders Anna and Karunanidhi had hailed equality and love, taught by the prophet.
Expressing deep concern over the situation in Gaza, the CM said there must be an immediate end to the atrocities faced by the Palestinians and urged the Central government to take resolute steps in this connection.
It was Karunanidhi who declared a holiday for Milad-un-Nabi way back in 1969 and while the AIADMK regime rescinded it in 2001, the DMK government reinstated the holiday in 2006.
Listing the welfare initiatives implemented by the DMK regime for Muslims, Stalin said it would take many hours to list all the schemes launched by the DMK government at various times for the Muslim community.
Provision of 3.5 per cent internal reservation in the BC category, including Urdu-speaking Muslims in the BC list, starting a welfare board for minorities, forming Urdu Academy and the new under-construction Haj House near Chennai airport were among the string of initiatives mentioned by the chief minister.
Referring to SDPI leader Nellai Mubarak's request seeking inclusion of content on Prophet Muhammad in school syllabus, the CM said it has already been included in the curriculum.
The chief minister, assuring the participants that the requests of the Muslim community would be considered, said: "Not only that; if Muslims face trouble, the first political outfit that comes to your supports is the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)."
Further, he said: "It was the DMK which fought against the CAA (Amendment) with a true spirit of friendship."
Without naming AIADMK chief and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Stalin said: "You know pretty well who asked if anyone was affected by that (CAA) and you under whose regime the Muslims were baton-charged for protesting against the CAA."
Similarly, everyone is aware of the double standards adopted by the AIADMK when the Centre brought the Triple Talaq law (The Muslim Women --Protection of Rights on Marriage-- Act, 2019). That was why leaders like Anwar Raja quit the AIADMK for its betrayal and joined the DMK.
He said: "Likewise, everyone saw the deceitful drama enacted by the AIADMK on the Waqf Amendment Bill. It was only due to the legal struggle of DMK and others that we have secured stay from the Supreme Court to the key provisions related to that amendment, brought by the BJP regime at the Centre."
"Those who are involved in betrayal by supporting the BJP's cheap, despotic, autocratic politics should be boycotted," Stalin said without naming the AIADMK.
The DMK chief said: "Always, the DMK will be one among you; the DMK will always protect the rights of the Muslim people and secure the rights of the Muslim people."
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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