Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has expressed her displeasure over the directive by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development to Chief Secretaries of all States to observe Sanskrit Week in all schools. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, excerpts of which was released to the media on Saturday, Jayalalithaa termed the move ‘highly inappropriate’.

“Tamil Nadu has a rich cultural heritage based on the ancient Tamil language. There has also been a strong social justice and language movement in the State. Hence any official celebration of Sanskrit Week in Tamil Nadu is highly inappropriate,” the CM said in her letter.

The Chief Minister suggested that instead of Sanskrit Week it would be appropriate to celebrate Classical language Week in each State based on the linguistic heritage of that State. “I request you to advise the officials of the Government of India to suitably modify the letter to enable each State, including the CBSE schools in that State to organise celebrations in tune with the language and culture of the State,” said Jayalalithaa.

Meanwhile, leaders of all political parties except the BJP in Tamil Nadu has slammed the directive on Sanskrit Week. The MDMK and the PMK, which were constituents of the NDA in Tamil Nadu came out strongly questioning the move to ‘impose’ Sanskrit on other States. 

MDMK leader Vaiko, who is pressurising the Union Government to take tough stance against the Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Sri lankan Government demanding a separate Tamil Eelam in the island nation, alleged that the Centre is trying to dominate over other languages through Sanskrit. “Thrusting a single group’s language is mischievous and dangerous. Tamil Nadu will not permit this,” Vaiko said in a statement and asked the Centre to withdraw the directive.

The MDMK leader is already on a path of confrontation with the BJP Government for inviting Rajapaksa for the swearing-in of Modi as the Prime Minister. Though the MDMK had contested seven seats in the lok Sabha elections from Tamil Nadu, it drew a blank which included the ignominious defeat of party chief Vaiko from Virudunagar, his home constituency. “We are still trying to find the reason for Vaiko’s defeat from Virudhunagar,” said Tamilaruvi Manian, political commentator who solemnised the formation of the NDA in Tamil Nadu just before the 2014 lok Sabha elections.

Dr Ramadoss, the PMK founder, in a statement on Thursday condemned the Centre’s directive to CBSE schools on Sanskrit Week. According to Ramadoss, Sanskrit is spoken by hardly 14,000 people in the country (2001 census). “Sanskrit is an Aryan language and we will not allow the move to impose Sanskrit and Hindi on the people in Tamil Nadu. let the Union Government treat all languages equally. In Tamil Nadu, we will have Tamil week in all CBSE schools,” Ramadoss said in the statement.

Interestingly, the PMK founder’s grandchildren (daughters of Anbumani Ramadoss) are named Sanghamitra, Sanchitra and Samyuktha, all Sanskrit names. Children of DMK leaders also bear Sanskrit and Hindi names, the notable  being Aditya, son of Kanimozhi.

But Dr Subramanian Swamy, senior BJP leader, described the stance of Vaiko and Ramadoss as gimmicks. “These leaders do not know what is happening in Tamil Nadu. There is a crave among the students to learn both Hindi and Sanskrit. The National Aeronautics and Space administration (NASA) has found that Sanskrit is the best language for computer programming related to Artificial language. Scientists and engineers in NASA are fast learning Sanskrit,” he said.