CHENNAI: The DMK seems bent on making another bid to whip up linguistic sentiments of the 60s and 70s when it went all out against Hindi. Going a step beyond merely condeming the Union Minister Smriti Irani’s announcement that Sanskrit would be taught as third language in educational institutions under the Central government, Karunanidhi on Monday gave a call to launch a massive agitation against efforts to impose Sanskrit.
Presiding over the wedding daughter of party MLA from Alangulam, Poongothai Aladi Aruna here, the DMK supremo said, “We have gathered here at a time when there are fears of whether the dominance of vadamozhi (Sanskrit) would resume. At a time when we speak about Pure Tamil, there are some ‘mad persons’ who wish to include Sanskrit in the curriculum. I say this to those who are trying to impose the language: Don’t give room for another agitation like the anti-Hindi agitation of the past.”
He said, “If efforts to impose Sanskrit go on, then every Tamil should join the agitation, taking a savukku (whip) in hand to root out the dominance of Sanskrit. We should take a vow now: there is no place for Sanskrit in TN and we will chase away Sanskrit if it is imposed on the people speaking any language.”