Sanskrit imposition

Manipur Police Arrest Two Student Leaders in Delhi for Opposing ‘Sanskrit Imposition’

The undergraduate students secured bail from a local court in Imphal in view of their upcoming semester exams.

New Delhi: In yet another punitive action against the Manipur Students’ Association Delhi (MSAD), the BJP-led Manipur government sent a police team to Delhi late last week to take into custody two executive members of the student body.

This action by the chief minister N. Biren Singh government comes in the wake of a public statement released by the students’ body in Delhi opposing the government’s recent decision to introduce Sanskrit as a subject in some schools and colleges in the northeastern state.

The two student leaders – Singhajit Thockchom and Kennedy Moirangthem – enrolled at a bachelor of commerce programme at Satyavati College, Delhi University, have been accused of promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race (Section 153A), insulting and thereby provocation to break public peace ( Section 504), intent to cause fear or alarm to the public which can lead to a crime against the state or against public tranquillity (Section 505-2) and criminal act with a common intention (Section 34) of the Indian Penal Code.

As per news reports in Manipur, the arrests were carried out on the basis of a first information report (FIR) filed by Prant Mantri Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Manipur; All Manipur Dharma Raksha Samiti; All Manipur Brahman Organisation; and Dharma Rakshak Sangh.

The arrest of Singhajit, MSAD general secretary, and Kennedy, secretary, were carried out by the state police jointly with the Delhi police at around 7 pm on December 8. They were produced at the Patiala court the next day for a remand transit order.

On December 10, the state police team brought Singhajit and Kennedy to Imphal to be produced at a local court in the state capital the next day. The chief judicial magistrate, Imphal West, released them on bail as both of them are students and their semester examination is scheduled to commence on December 13.

“The counsel (of the students) submitted (to the court) that keeping them in custody will amount to the destruction of their career. Further, it was submitted that they are first time offenders, and the chance of their absconding is virtually none as they are presently pursuing B.Com programme. The court accepted their prayers to release them on bail, after a personal bond of Rs 20,000 each on December 11,” said an Imphal Free Press report.

Also read: Manipur Scribe Held Again for Sedition, This Time for FB Post Slamming Insult to Tribal Woman

The report said, the court released them “with the conditions that they should not threaten, contact or induce any of the prosecution witnesses; make themselves available for interrogation by the investigating officer as and when required; not commit any offence in future; not leave the state of Manipur without permission of the court till the trial is over and not temper or threaten the witness or the complainant”.

The public statement, issued by the MSAD and signed by Kennedy on November 20, had stated, “The government exposes its stupidity by trying to impose Sanskrit which is based on hatred, untouchability, sexism, domination, chauvinism as we know what the upper caste Hindu Brahmins are. MSAD sees it as an attempt to enslave the people of Manipur academically, and linguistically in furthering India’s process of colonialism against Manipur.”

The statement particularly targeted the upper-caste Hindu Brahmins of the state. According to an Imphal Times report, it further said that there are above 30 dialects spoken by the indigenous people of Manipur “most of which are about to be extinct lest measures are taken to continue their existence. No doubt that this government is blind enough to not to see enough to see such a sight but obedient enough to be acceptable to their colonial master, the upper caste Hindu Brahmins, the b***ards.” It termed state education minister S. Rajen as “submissive to the Brahmins”.

In response to the displeasure expressed by a section of people on the scathing attack on a particular community, the MSAD reportedly reissued a statement on November 30 clarifying its position and informed the Imphal Police.

However, it did not prevent the police team from Imphal to arrive in Delhi last week to carry out the arrests.

In February 2019, MSAD advisor Thockchom Veewon was also arrested by a joint team of Manipur police and Delhi police from his rented apartment for views on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The arrest triggered huge opposition in the state. He was taken to Imphal on a remand transit and produced before the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal East, which granted him bail.

Tamil Leaders Slam Centre on Prasar Bharati’s Latest Order to ‘Promote’ Sanskrit

A number of Tamil MPs of late have alleged that the Centre has been making multiple attempts to impose Hindi, and now Sanskrit, on Tamil Nadu.

Chennai: In a fresh round of controversy, a directive from the Prasar Bharati to its regional channels stating that a 15-minute Sanskrit news bulletin be telecast every day has irked leaders in Tamil Nadu.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president, M.K. Stalin; Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK) MP, D. Ravikumar; Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP, S. Venkatesan; and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Vaiko, among others, have condemned the ‘imposition’ of Sanskrit and demanded that the order be withdrawn.

“It goes against the objectives of Prasar Bharati Act,” says Ravikumar. “According to the 2011 Census, 803 people speak Sanskrit in Tamil Nadu. If you are going to telecast a bulletin for them, why not telecast a bulletin for tens of thousands of Tamils living in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, and elsewhere. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of Sanskrit-speaking population. Even in that state, Tamil-speaking population is larger than that.”

Also read: To Counter Hindi Push, G.N. Devy to Launch Cultural Front to Promote Other Languages

Ravi Kumar says that both in terms of population that speaks the language and classical status, Tamil is in a better position and should ideally be treated better.

“But in the last budget session, the Centre said it would set up three universities for Sanskrit. Tamil is a classical language; I think it is time we start vigorously demanding that a Central university be set up for Tamil. Also, we should demand that Sanskrit spoken by only a few thousand people be removed from Eighth Schedule of the constitution, and languages spoken by over one crore people be included,” he adds.

In a tongue-in-cheek tweet, Madurai MP S. Venkatesan asked, “Not even five persons to listen to it, why would you need a six-inch conch?” He further adds, “How fair it is to spend thousands of crores of Rupees on a language spoken by a few thousands? The Centre has been consistently spending huge money on Sanskrit, but clearly ignores Tamil which is older than Sanskrit.”

In August, DMK MP Kanimozhi had tweeted about how an airport security staff in Chennai had asked her if she was Indian when she revealed that she does not speak Hindi. In a month, T-shirts carrying anti-Hindi slogans became viral in Tamil Nadu.

More recently, S. Venkatesan had slammed the Union minister of state for home, Nityanand Rai, for responding to his letter in Hindi. “It was shocking that legal and procedural aspects have been violated by replying in Hindi to my letter,” the MP wrote back. Venkatesan had written to the minister on October 9 demanding examination centres in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the recruitment of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) paramedical staff. “I had to assume that your response was to that demand only,” Venkatesan hit back.

Quoting from the Official Languages Rules, 1976, Venkatesan wrote that the response in Hindi is a clear violation of the said rules.

On November 23, he had filed public interest litigation (PIL) at the Madurai bench of Madras high court demanding that the responses from the Central government to Tamil Nadu government, its people and MPs should be in English. It also demanded appropriate action against government officials who violate the existing laws.

“For all practical purposes, Hindi is the official language in Parliament,” says Venkatesan. “We had once raised an issue about the regular circulars sent only in Hindi during a session from at least four or five ministries. The speaker agreed and said it should be sent in both Hindi and English. But in the next session, we had got the circulars only in Hindi from the same ministries.”

Venkatesan also points out the DMK MP P. Wilson had also received a response in Hindi for his letter on Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation in National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), and he had to fight for a response in English.

“All ministries are directly or indirectly moving towards only Hindi position, for us, it is clearly imposition,” he adds.

Kavitha Muralidharan is an independent journalist.

Rajasthan Government Withdraws Order To Have Just One Third Language in Schools

The changes made through the earlier order had altered the 2004 state policy that has been governing primary education in minority languages (Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Gujarati).

Jaipur: The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan has withdrawn its controversial order that had declared only one minority language will be taught from Classes VI to VIII, on November 13.

Apart from Hindi and English, one minority language is taught as a third language at the primary level – usually the mother tongue.

Several minority groups in Rajasthan had relentlessly protested against this order. They had claimed that the implementation of a sole third language was part of a plan to eliminate minority languages from the curriculum and “impose Sanskrit on linguistic minorities”.

They further alleged that the Rajasthan government’s order was an extension of the national education policy (NEP) 2020, which has prioritised Sanskrit over other languages.

Rajasthan Urdu Teachers’ Association has welcomed the move, however, they are not satisfied with the temporary nature of the order. “It was unacceptable that the director of primary education had chargesheeted the district education officers who had ordered more than one third language in schools,” Ameen Kayamkhani, president of the Rajasthan Urdu Teachers’ Association told The Wire.

“We appreciate that the Congress government in Rajasthan has withdrawn the order but specifying that the withdrawal is valid only until further orders looks as if it is meant to appease the minorities for the panchayat elections,” he added.

Through an administrative order issued by the state’s director of primary education Sourabh Swami on November 13, the previous order of September 2 was withdrawn.

The changes made through the September 2 order had altered the 2004 state policy that has been governing primary education in minority languages (Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Gujarati) as a medium of instruction and as a third language.

The 2004 policy was based on the recommendations of the I.K. Gujral committee that proposed safeguards for Urdu-speaking minorities. A formula was coined under which primary schools with at least 10 minority students in a class and a total of 40 minority students in the school were eligible to facilitate education in minority languages, either as the medium of instruction or as a third language, depending on students’ preferences.

The schools, as per this policy, maintained a register that listed the third language opted for by students of minority groups.

When students’ inputs match the prescribed formula (10 minority students in a class and total 40 in school), the schools write to the district education officer for providing teachers for the selected minority languages.

Also Read: Rajasthan to Have Only One Third Language in Schools, Minorities Fear Sanskrit Imposition

The power to administer primary education in minority languages was vested in the district education officers, as per the 2004 policy. However, the September 2 order withdrew this arrangement too.

“It has come to our notice that district education officers are permitting more than one third language in primary schools. This is against the rules. Any such permission given is withdrawn,” the September 2 order had stated.

The education department had earlier said that the decision for just one-third language at the primary level was taken due to financial constraints.

“The decision to appoint a third language teacher is to be taken by the finance department, something that is logical, but it came to our notice that at a few places, district education officers were taking steps to appoint third language teachers. This was a clear case of insubordination and such officers have been chargesheeted too,” Swami had told The Wire.

Recently, appointments for the post of senior teacher was made only for the Sanskrit language in many government schools in Rajasthan that were upgraded from primary to secondary level. The state government has also taken this appointment back.

Over the years, Urdu-medium schools in Rajasthan have come down to seven from 32 and the publication of Urdu textbooks for classes one to eight in the state ceased after 1997.

The Wire had earlier reported that the Rajasthan State Textbook Board (RSTB), entrusted with the responsibility of printing and distributing textbooks approved by the state government, has not received approval for Urdu textbooks after 1997.

In fact, the Rajasthan government’s official textbook website “shaladarpan” mentions that Urdu textbooks are meant only for “students studying in madrassas”.