The saying politics make strange bedfellows has come true in the case of BJP. Though the secular Indian National Congress is the past master in the game of cultivating and compromising with parties diametrically opposite to its secularism, the BJP was an exception till recently as it was difficult to pinpoint constituents in its National Democratic Alliance which held opposite ideology to its Hindutva politics.
The Congress, is always willing to offer its services as doormat to the DMK, the lead party in Tamil Nadu. The Dravidian major has an uncompromising aversion to anything Hindi or Sanskrit and this has resulted in the DMK has put a big embargo on Navodaya Vidyalaya concept. The Navodaya Vidyalaya was the brain child of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (1984-1989) who wanted all poor children in the country to benefit by public schools a la Doon school. The National Education Policy launched during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister had planned to set up one Navodaya Vidyalaya in each district of the country and to provide a Cosmopolitan ambience to students. The course was totally free and there was no additional charges for boarding and lodging.
Though most States jumped into the offer and set up such schools in their districts, Tamil Nadu is the only State that remained inaccessible to Navodaya Vidyalaya. Till date the DMK has not allowed the opening up of even a single such school in the State and cites the two-language policy pursued by the Dravidians. “The Congress party in Tamil Nadu does not dare to question the DMK’s intransigent attitude against the policy initiated by their leader.