Chennai/IBNS: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit back at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's "LKG" remark escalating the faceoff over the National Education Policy (NEP) and the language debate in the south Indian state.

The fresh debate started after Stalin, who runs the ruling DMK, said NEP is like "an LKG student lecturing a PhD holder".

Stalin claimed Tamil Nadu has already achieved many of the goals set by the NEP.

Hitting back at Stalin, Union Home Minister and BJP strongman Amit Shah asked the Chief Minister to hold engineering and medical examinations in Tamil. 

Ramping up the party's attack on Stalin on the issue, BJP state president K Annamalai said as quoted by Hindustan Times, "Thiru MK Stalin, our online signature campaign through puthiyakalvi.in is supported by over 2 lakh people within 36 hours, and our on-ground signature campaign continues to receive an overwhelming reception across TN. As the TN CM, you seem visibly rattled, and your rants against the signature campaign mean nothing to us."

He added, "Despite being in power, you couldn't carry out a signature campaign against NEET, and remember that your cadres had to throw the pamphlets in the dustbin after realizing where they truly belonged.

"Thiru MK Stalin, stop swinging your paper word against the delusional Hindi imposition. Your fake Hindi imposition drama has already been exposed. It's unfortunate that you haven't realised it yet."

The controversy over NEP implementation in Tamil Nadu has intensified, particularly regarding its three-language formula.

Stalin had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan threatened to withhold Rs 2,000 crore in funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan unless the state adopted the policy.

"The Centre says Tamil Nadu will get Rs 2,000 crore if we implement NEP. Let me make it clear—we will not agree to NEP even if offered Rs 10,000 crore. I will not allow the policy to push Tamil Nadu backward by 2,000 years," Stalin declared.

The Chief Minister had previously accused the policy of being a disguised effort to promote Hindi rather than education, stating, "It is camouflaged as an education policy because a direct imposition would face resistance."