The framework aligns with the NEP and has reignited language policy debates along federal autonomy lines in India.

On Saturday, Stalin posted a statement on X arguing that, while promoting "Indian languages," this policy is a means of establishing a centralised area that favours Hindi over India's other languages and that there are longstanding concerns for non-Hindi speaking states regarding this policy and the cultural and political marginalisation that will result from it.

Stalin took issue with the traditional three-language formula, often the focus of contention between the government of India and the southern states. According to him, the formula is not a neutral educational framework but rather a "covert means of spreading the use of Hindi into areas in which it is not traditionally spoken already". Upon framing the issue in terms of cultural rights and regional identity, Stalin stated emphatically that Tamil Nadu will continue to oppose making the teaching of Hindi compulsory.

This is an ongoing debate about how education policy is becoming involved in national political questions of Federalism and Cultural Autonomy. Educators who oppose NEP have claimed that education is being reshaped through strong State involvement and might dilute the degree of Regional Control. Proponents of NEP, on the other hand, argue that by promoting multiple Indian languages in the classroom and teaching children in these languages will provide them with a more complete and integrated opportunity for education.

The comments made by Stalin are expected to intensify the ongoing political discourse in the run-up to the next State elections, particularly in Tamil Nadu, where language has always been an important topic for mobilization. The Dravidian political tradition has historically opposed any attempts to impose Hindi as the "National Language" of India on the basis that these attempts undermine the multi-lingual and multi-cultural character of India.

While the debate regarding the CBSE curriculum continues to develop, it illustrates the continuing tension in Indian politics between promoting National Cohesion and protecting the Region's Linguistic and Cultural Identity.