Congress MP Shashikant Senthil, who was on hunger strike demanding the release of pending funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for Tamil Nadu, suddenly deteriorated on Saturday. After this, he was admitted to Thiruvallur Government Medical College Hospital, where doctors have kept him under surveillance due to high blood pressure.
Posting on the social media platform x, Senthil wrote, “I have been hospitalized due to high blood pressure. I am under proper medical supervision and stable. But my demand is clear that Tamil Nadu’s official SSA fund should be released immediately.”
The Congress MP alleges that the central government has stopped an amount of about Rs 2,000 crore, as the Tamil Nadu government is not ready to implement the National Education Policy (NEP). In protest against this, he was sitting on hunger strike for two days and his health deteriorated on the third day.
State Education Minister Anubil Mahesh Poyyamoji and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has also strongly criticized the Center on this issue. He says that the Center is making education a weapon of politics and Tamil Nadu is being punished due to his policy opposition.
Senthil had also taken up the matter in Parliament and wrote a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan demanding the release of pending amount soon. He says that the delay in the fund has affected many important education schemes of the state, including the distribution of funds to the students under RTE (Right to Education).
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