New Delhi: Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday put forth his views on the growing debate on languages to be taught in educational institutions around the country, saying it is not a realistic prospect to make Sanskrit the official language.
Tharoor's comments came a day after National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) chairman Nand Kumar Sai demanded that the government make Sanskrit the official language since many Indian languages originate from it.
"As far as the status of Sanskrit is concerned, it's a wonderful language, but it is not an easy language and of course it is not currently spoken by most people in the entire country," Tharoor told news agency ANI, advising against the move.
The Congress MP from Thiruvanathapuram said turning Sanskrit into an official or the national language overnight is not a "realistic request".
"I am glad that people are trying to keep the language alive, but you cannot overnight turn it into a language of administration or judiciary. It's not a realistic request," he added.
The Centre had earlier recommended a three-language formula under the draft National Education Policy (NEP), which had recommended Hindi teaching in all government schools. After facing an intense backlash from Tamil Nadu and protests in several other states, the government dropped the contentious provision of compulsory teaching of Hindi.
Rai's demand came after the central government modified the contentious provision in the draft policy.
"It's good that you want to learn English. But you should also learn and respect your own language which is Sanskrit. Sanskrit is a complete language, while English lacks logic. Sanskrit is close to Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malyalam and even Hindi. Therefore, it should be made compulsory for everyone. Also, people in other regions won't oppose it," Rai had said.
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