Smriti Irani, Union Human Resource Development Minister, clarifies after row over Teachers' Day order
A central government circular on Friday's Teachers' Day celebrations saw southern parties, including the BJP's own allies, suspecting a bid to rename the day to "Guru Utsav". Even after Education Minister Smriti Irani clarified that the term was used for an essay-writing competition.
"An essay competition called Guru Utsav, which is a celebration of teachers, if that is opposed, then it appalls me that somebody would not want teachers who are the very foundation of our society, to be revered and respected," she told reporters.
Months after a controversy over a central order on the use of Hindi in social media posts and official communication, many Tamil Nadu parties read the latest circular as yet another attempt to impose Hindi or Sanksrit. The BJP's own allies, PMK and MDMK, were no exception.
"We can't accept any tacit imposition of Sanskrit. The Centre should give up renaming Teachers' Day," said PMK founder S Ramadoss.
V Gopalasamy or Vaiko, the chief of MDMK, added: "National integrity would be strengthened only if various languages and cultures are nurtured and protected."
Earlier, DMK Chief M Karunanidhi had hit out at the Centre for what he called making changes to an old tradition. "This is how they first lay their hands on our language. After defeating it they plot little by little to defeat those belonging to the language, those who reached great heights through the language and those who hurt themselves for the language. We do not need any other example for this," he said on Sunday.
"You should understand that in Tamil Nadu, Aryan ways have started work little by little to destroy Tamil ways," he added.
Many of these parties had earlier protested against a central government circular asking schools to celebrate Sanskrit Week.
Just after the Narendra Modi government took charge in May, there was a massive row over the central government order asking officers to use Hindi in all official communication and posts on social media. Outrage forced the government to clarify that its order was only for Hindi-speaking states.