Chennai: Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has come down heavily on BJP leader K. Annamalai for advocating the open display of religious symbols by students, denouncing the remarks as "deeply regressive, dangerous, and socially divisive."

Speaking to reporters in Chennai, the minister condemned Annamalai's appeal as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the secular fabric of public education. “Schools are meant to unite children, not segregate them based on religion. What Annamalai is promoting is not just reactionary—it's toxic to the idea of equality,” Mahesh said.

The minister's sharp criticism follows Annamalai's address at a Murugan devotees' conference held in Madurai on June 22. During the event, the former BJP state president claimed Hindu students should assert their religious identity in schools by wearing Rudraksha beads and carrying holy water, especially in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu.

“Such inflammatory rhetoric threatens communal harmony,” Mahesh said, warning that normalising religious assertion in classrooms could have dangerous consequences. “The school uniform policy introduced by K. Kamaraj was meant to erase differences—not highlight them. Taking us back to a time of visible religious segregation is a betrayal of that vision.”

He accused the BJP leader of politicising education and dragging children into a larger ideological agenda. “This is not about faith; it's about stoking division and fear. The people of Tamil Nadu will not accept such backward ideas,” Mahesh added.

The remarks have escalated the ongoing friction between the ruling DMK and the BJP in the state over issues of secularism, education, and religious identity.