Udhayanidhi calls Sanskrit 'dead language', BJP hits back

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Friday called Sanskrit "a dead language," drawing a sharp response from the BJP, which said leaders must be more responsible while making remarks.

The DMK leader was addressing a book release event, where he criticised the Union government for allotting only Rs 150 crore for Tamil development.

In contrast, Sanskrit, "a dead language", was getting Rs 2,400 crore, he said.

Reacting to his comment, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, who was in Chennai to attend the review meeting organised by his party, told reporters post the meeting that it has become fashionable to speak against India's ancient values and culture.

"Sanskrit is the oldest language. Tamil is also one of the oldest languages. Both languages are very important for us. It has become a fashion for the leaders of the INDI alliance to always speak against our culture, the Sanskrit language, India's institutions, and India's assets.

"It is unfortunate that they are opposing the rich culture of the country without knowing, without thinking, and without understanding it. This is completely unfortunate," Chugh said.

Tamil Nadu BJP former president K Annamalai said the central government has allocated Rs 2,400 crore to Sanskrit because there are many Sanskrit universities in India.

"The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), now the Ministry of Education, allocates funds to universities. We continuously tell DMK: talk to MHRD and open new Tamil universities in Bihar, Guwahati, and Delhi.

"Without opening any universities, our Deputy Chief Minister says that there have always been many Sanskrit universities. They don't even make an attempt to increase the single Tamil university we have within Tamil Nadu to two or three. When this is the case, how will the central government provide funds," asked Annamalai while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the review meeting.

Taking offence to the 'dead language' terminology, BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan told PTI Videos that no one has the right to call any language dead, especially the one that is still used today in prayers and rituals across the country.

"This mindset of appreciating one language only by putting down another is fundamentally wrong, and leaders must be more responsible when they speak about language and culture," she said.

According to her, even Tamil has many inclusions from Sanskrit.

"Tamil is an open-hearted language that has absorbed words and ideas from many tongues, including Sanskrit. This shows its strength, not its weakness," she said.