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By:

Quad Najmi and PTI

17 June 2026 at 5:11:32 pm

Uddhav faces another rebellion; decision today

Six Lok Sabha MPs trying to move away; picture may be clear at today’s Parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi AI generated image Mumbai: A cloak-and-dagger crisis engulfing the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has landed at the door of the Lok Sabha Speaker, with the party urging him to guard against any unlawful defection and issuing a whip directing its MPs to attend a meeting in Delhi on Thursday. Amid the escalating crisis, a group of rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders is learnt to have met...

Uddhav faces another rebellion; decision today

Six Lok Sabha MPs trying to move away; picture may be clear at today’s Parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi AI generated image Mumbai: A cloak-and-dagger crisis engulfing the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has landed at the door of the Lok Sabha Speaker, with the party urging him to guard against any unlawful defection and issuing a whip directing its MPs to attend a meeting in Delhi on Thursday. Amid the escalating crisis, a group of rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders is learnt to have met Speaker Om Birla informally on Wednesday, claiming the support of six of the party's nine MPs in the Lower House, sources said. Thursday's high-stakes meeting in Delhi will legally and physically define whether Uddhav Thackeray retains his parliamentary strength or faces another devastating party division, the third since Raj Thackeray split Shiv Sena in 2006. Sources in Sena (UBT) said the rival camp still doesn't have the support of six MPs. They claim two of the six rebels have reportedly changed their mind. In a swift counter-offensive to contain the damage, the party high command issued a mandatory three-line whip, summoning an emergency parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday to force a physical showdown where the MPs will have to mark their presence physically. The developments triggered a day of high political drama in the national capital, marked by a furious, expletive-laden press conference by Raut, a reported counter-meeting by the rebel faction with Lok Sabha Speaker Birla, and sharp condemnation from the Congress. The internal fracture was visible at Sanjay Raut's press briefing, where only three other Lok Sabha MPs, Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, and Rajabhau Waje, stood by him. The remaining six lawmakers were conspicuously absent; their exact whereabouts are unknown. The Sena (UBT) has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha, and at least two‑thirds of them would be required to form a separate group. Apart from Desai, Waje and Sawant, the other six MPs are Sanjay Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh, Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar and Sanjay Jadhav Not Reachable The six MPs stopped responding or became unavailable since Wednesday forenoon, after which the party stopped contacting them. They said when the party contacted Mumbai North East MP, Sanjay Dina Patil, he told party leaders that he was not with the rebel group. The party had asked them to submit a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, which he has not submitted so far. Later in the day, sources claimed that the group of six rebel lawmakers had privately met the Lok Sabha Speaker to claim a two-thirds majority in the Lower House, the precise threshold required to escape disqualification under the anti-defection law. Simultaneously, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who split the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022, was reportedly camping in Delhi to oversee the operational layout of the defection of MPs. He returned to his home town Thane in Wednesday night. He is reportedly studying all the legal aspects before taking a final call before the party’s foundation day on Friday. Speaker’s Role Following reports of the rebels' move, a loyalist delegation consisting of Raut, Sawant, and Desai rushed to meet Speaker Birla to file a formal representation urging him to reject any unlawful group alignment. Desai argued that the legal provisions are strictly on the side of the original organisational structure. "Under the law, a splinter group cannot simply merge with another party on its own, even if they have two-thirds support. Only the original administrative party holds that right," Desai told reporters, adding that the Speaker assured them he would thoroughly examine every legal aspect before rendering a decision. The widening panic inside the party also triggered a public, familial disconnect involving missing Hingoli MP Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar. While the MP remained unreachable, his son, Krushna Patil Ashtikar, the MVA's official candidate for Thursday's Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, released a video statement strongly defending Uddhav Thackeray. "I am a Shiv Sainik of Uddhav Thackeray. There is no room for doubt when it comes to me," the younger Ashtikar stated.

Centralized Education, Regional Defiance

Updated: Feb 19, 2025

The clash between Tamil Nadu and the BJP-led Centre over the National Education Policy is the latest chapter in the long-running Hindi vs Tamil identity feud.

Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu

The Hindi versus Tamil identity tussle took yet another sharp turn following Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s remarks on withholding crucial education funds until Tamil Nadu adopted the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its controversial three-language formula.

The remarks have fanned the flames of a bitter political confrontation. For Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK, the fight is about the very essence of the southern state’s identity.


The M.K. Stalin-led DMK, which has long stood as the defender of the Dravidian ideology, sees the imposition of the NEP and its tri-lingual policy as a direct affront to the state’s autonomy and a veiled attempt to foist Hindi upon a Tamil-majority population. The DMK, backed by nearly all major political parties in Tamil Nadu, has accused the Centre of politically-motivated actions, seeking to force compliance by using financial leverage.


The context for this seemingly endless battle can be traced back to the Dravidian movement, which, since the 1930s, has fought for linguistic self-determination and opposed the imposition of Hindi. The two-language policy, emphasizing Tamil and English, has been a pillar of the state’s educational system. Successive Tamil Nadu governments have rejected the notion of a three-language formula, with the most vocal opposition coming from the erstwhile AIADMK government. In 2020, then Chief Minister E.K. Palaniswami categorically rejected the NEP’s three-language formula, invoking the legacy of C. N. Annadurai and MGR, who fiercely resisted any attempts at imposing Hindi.


Now, with Tamil Nadu’s next Assembly election due next year, the DMK has doubled down on its stance. Chief Minister M K Stalin has vowed that the state will not buckle under what he termed ‘blackmail,’ asserting that Tamils will not accept any decision that undermines their cultural and linguistic pride. This rhetoric, echoed by his son and Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, has sharpened the political stakes. Their opposition to the NEP is framed as a defense of Tamil identity, a battle against a perceived homogenizing force emanating from Delhi.


Actor-turned-politician Vijay, leader of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), went so far as to label the Centre’s approach as “fascist.”


At the heart of the conflict is the allocation of funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, which is essential for the state’s education system. Tamil Nadu has yet to receive over Rs. 2,150 crore in promised funds, which are vital for teacher salaries, student welfare initiatives, and the Right to Education reimbursements for underprivileged students. With the state already spending Rs. 76 crore monthly on teacher salaries and Rs. 400 crore annually on RTE, the absence of central funding has become a significant financial burden, threatening the very sustainability of the state’s education system.


The Tamil Nadu government sees in Pradhan’s remarks a wider attempt to centralize governance and curtail the autonomy of regional governments.


Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the NEP is not just about resisting the imposition of a three-language formula. The DMK government has criticized several other aspects of the NEP, including the common entrance exams, the push for a four-year undergraduate program, and the introduction of uniform exams for Classes III, V and VIII. These reforms, the DMK claims, would exacerbate dropouts and create inequalities within the education system, entrenching a two-tiered structure that would affect marginalized students.


To counter the NEP, the DMK government set up a 13-member panel to draft a State Education Policy (SEP), which aims to provide a localized, inclusive alternative to the NEP. The panel, which included prominent figures like chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna submitted its recommendations last year, but the SEP has yet to be finalized.


The BJP-led government’s insistence on the NEP, with its sweeping reforms, may be seen as an attempt to standardize education across the country, but for Tamil Nadu, it risks erasing the regional identity that has long been a cornerstone of its political culture.

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