Centre 'thrusting Sanskrit' on Tamil people: Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi has charged the BJP-led government of being obstinate in "thrusting" Sanskrit, saying such "linguistic, cultural chauvinism" would derail the nation from the pathway of growth. Talking about media reports about the HRD Ministry considering setting up a board for Vedic education, he said, the BJP regime is "obstinate in thrusting Sanskrit as it is a convenient route towards fundamentalist Hindutva." Karunanidhi said the Centre is trying to get Hindi included in the United Nations list of official languages. Such initiatives were being undertaken in support of Hindi and Sanskrti when "the Centre has been ignoring our request for half-a-century to declare all 22 Indian languages listed in the eight schedule of the Constitution as official languages of the Union government."