Chennai: DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Friday stepped up his attack on the BJP government on the move to teach Sanskrit as the third language in schools under the Union government and said it was against the concept of equal status for the all languages recognised by the Constitution.In a statement here, the DMK leader said, “The Union government was ignoring our plea to declare all the languages placed in the eighth schedule as official languages of India. But, it is showing keen interest in imposing Hindi and Sanskrit. Is it equal justice for all languages?”
Hitting out at the announcement on Sanskrit teaching by Union minister Smriti Irani, he said ‘such discriminatory acts based on language and cultural chauvinism’ would derail the nation from development path and divert attention from the basic issues for people’s livelihood.
After the BJP government came to power at the Centre, there is an urgency in acts of imposing Sanskrit. Besides celebration of Sanskrit and Hindi weeks, 30 minutes had been allotted in Doordarshan to news in Sanskrit, Karunanidhi said.
Equal status to all the languages alone would ensure strengthen the federal structure, he said.
Karunanidhi also recalled Irani's earlier statement that she would mobilise the support of all the nations to make Hindi as one of the official languages of United Nations. Citing the minister’s statement that Sanskrit would be necessary to teach Indian culture, the DMK leader said the minister's remarks showed that imposition of culture would follow the imposition of Sanskrit. The BJP government is adamant on imposing Sanskrit as it would be useful for attaining their Hindutva goals, he added.
