Political parties in Tamil Nadu on Thursday opposed the CBSE’s circular asking affiliated schools to conduct Sanskrit week from August 7 to 13.
The most vocal condemnation came from the allies of the BJP – the MDMK and the PMK. The DMK too demanded the withdrawal of the circular.In a statement, MDMK general secretary Vaiko said the Centre was trying to impose Sanskrit hegemony over other languages such as Tamil. Imposing the language of a “single group” on others was “dangerous and atrocious. Tamil Nadu will never accept this,” he asserted.
PMK founder S. Ramadoss said that there was an attempt to impose Sanskrit and the culture associated with it on others. “If the Centre and the CBSE wanted to promote languages, the intent should be common to all languages. Showing bias to languages was not right,” he said. .
DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan told The Hindu that sanskritisation of culture was an agenda of the RSS. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi focussed on the development agenda during his election campaign. We do not understand why he is deviating from this focus now through such moves,” he wondered. If the Centre wanted to promote classical languages, Tamil had to be given equal importance. “Tamil is no way lesser to Sanskrit,” he said.
