Chennai: Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comment describing Sanskrit as a “dead language” during a book release event in Chennai has drawn sharp reactions from the BJP and Congress.
Addressing the gathering at a book release in Chennai on 21 November, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin had launched a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of displaying “selective concern” for Tamil while promoting Hindi and Sanskrit through policy and funding.
Senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan hit back saying the deputy chief minister’s language “crossed all limits of decency”.
“How can a language that has given us the roots of our civilisation be called dead? This is not just an attack on Sanskrit but an insult to the cultural heritage of millions of Hindus,” she said.
Similarly, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, while echoing Udhayanidhi’s criticism of central funding patterns, distanced himself from the “dead language” criticism.
“I won’t call any language a dead language. If anyone wishes to learn any language, they can invest their time on it. But the Union government shows discrimination while allocating funds to the Tamil language, and there is no doubt on that,” he said.
At the book launch, Udhayanidhi Stalin had said: “PM Modi, while speaking, said he was worried that he did not learn Tamil and is unable to read Tamil. I am asking him, on one hand, you are doing drama as if you have concern for Tamil language, and on the other hand you are imposing Hindi and Sanskrit without allowing people to learn Tamil. How fair is it to say you will only allocate Rs 2,500 crore of Tamil Nadu’s share if the state accepts the three-language policy?”
Udhayanidhi had further claimed that the Union government had done little for Tamil over the past decade.
“In the last 10 years, what have you done for Tamil development? The Union government has allocated only Rs 150 crore for Tamil, but Rs 2,400 crore for Sanskrit, which is a dead language. This is PM Modi’s Tamil concern drama,” he added.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Explained: What is three-language formula at centre of row between Centre, Tamil Nadu