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Jayalalithaa against Sanskrit week celebrations, writes to PM

by IBNS 19 Jul 2014, 11:12 am

Chennai, July 19 (IBNS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the direction by the centre's Ministry of Human Resource Development urging Chief Secretaries of all States to celebrate Sanskrit week August 7 to 13 and instead organize a Classical Language Week in keeping with each state's linguistic heritage.

In a letter dated July 18 to the Prime Minister, she wrote: “As you are aware, 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. It would have been much more appropriate to have organized a Classical Language Week in each State based on the linguistic heritage of that State."

She added: "I request you to advise the officials in 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."

"This would be in keeping with the cultural and linguistic sensitivities in a diverse country like ours,” she said.

Sanskrit Week celebrations are to be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in all states as the centre urged the State Governments to organise such events at the State, District and other levels.