Chennai:
A circular by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) directing all schools to celebrate Sanskrit week in August by organising a range of Sanskrit based-programmes for students and teachers has touched a raw political nerve in Tamil Nadu.
Many Dravidian parties in the state including a few allies of the BJP have demanded its withdrawal. For them Sanskrit is a Brahminical language and any form of its imposition is unacceptable.
MDMK Chief Vaiko says thrusting "a single group's language is mischievous and dangerous". For another ally Ramadoss the move is an "an attempt to impose Sanskrit based culture". The DMK warns "this is RSS agenda which would lead to disintegration of the country".
Only the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools run by the Central Government offer Sanskrit as a mandatory language. Most other private schools in the state offer other languages including Tamil, Hindi and French. Though schools which do not teach Sanskrit are vocal in their opposition, they have not registered their apprehensions officially.
Aarti Boaz, who heads the Boaz Public School in Chennai, is worried about repercussions of implementing the order. She says "After the alleged Hindi imposition we don't know what's the new government's agenda. It would raise many eyebrows. Is it Hindiisation?"
But her students are divided. Akshaya, a class VIII student who has opted for French, would actually love to learn Sanskrit and says the Sanskrit Week Celebration would help many children have a taste of the language described "as the mother of all languages". She argues "Sanskrit learning will help me learn many other languages easily like Bengali, Hindi and even Malayalam."
But in the adjoining class IX, Viswanathan, a Tamil student, questions the government's interference in education. He says "If Politicians themselves won't speak Sanskrit but just Hindi, why do they want to impose it on us? It's a waste."
Outside the PS Senior Secondary School at Mylapore in Chennai, Rajagopalan, a chartered accountant, welcomes attempts to introduce Sanskrit in schools. Already he has made his son study the old language. He tells "Though I'm a Chartered Accountant when we travel outside Tamil Nadu, despite knowing English and Tamil, I'm unable to communicate because they don't speak anything other than Hindi or their mother tongue. Any additional language is welcome".
In another part of Chennai though Manu and his brother Jishnu want to learn Hindi and Sanskrit, their parents feel the government should actually focus on more important aspects. Their mother Kamalam Moorthy says "they should actually address fundamental issues like strengthening the curriculum than focusing on the just language and language".
Authorities in the CBSE's southern Region office in Chennai however say schools which do not teach Sanskrit do not have to implement the circular.
In the 60's, Tamil Nadu witnessed the anti-Hindi agitation, mainly by students opposing imposition of Hindi by the Centre. The protests catapulted the DMK to power and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had then assured that Hindi wouldn't be imposed and English would remain the link language between the Centre and non-Hindi speaking states. Although this brings back memories of those massive protests, there's a stark difference now. Many in Tamil Nadu are willing to learn other languages including Hindi or Sanskrit by choice and any force is still fought.