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.
Taking offence to his 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.