As the Parliament approves the Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, which paves the way for converting three deemed universities- Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi; Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi; and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati- into full-fledged central universities, the debate about Sanskrit vs Tamil has come into light once again.

Few people like Subramanian Swamy who have supported the cause for Sanskrit for decades are happy over the government’s initiative, while the Dravidian parties, especially DMK, are obviously outraged over the decision.

To set up a central university for Sanskrit in the present climate required guts and clarity of purpose. I must admit Namo and MoHD Pokhriyal displayed sagacity and timing — Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 16, 2020

Swamy praised the Union HRD minister for getting the bill passed despite such a chaotic environment. “To set up a central university for Sanskrit in the present climate required guts and clarity of purpose. I must admit Namo and MoHD Pokhriyal displayed sagacity and timing,” he tweeted.

Swamy also spoke in Rajya Sabha over the bill and criticized the DMK for opposing cause of Sanskrit. He said that leaders of the Dravidian parties having Sanskrit names but they keep opposing the language, and hide behind pen names like Vaiko for V. Gopal Swamy (infamous Dravidian leader who led anti-Sterlite protest and supports LTTE), and Karunanidhi for Dakhshinamurthy to hide their hypocrisy.

Swamy pointed out that Karunanidhi (Dakhshinamurthy) and Periyar (Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy) – two of the biggest icons of Dravidian politics, have originally a Sanskrit name.

Swamy said that these Dravidian leaders could not get names from anywhere else, and that is why they have Sanskrit names. “Y. Gopalaswamy is now hiding behind Vaiko!” said Dr Swamy in Rajya Sabha, commenting on opposition by the MDMK leader Vaiko.

“See smile of Vaiko whose original name is Y Gopalaswamy during debate on Sanskrit UniversityBill. @Swamy39 mentions Sanskrit name of DMK Chief Karunanidhi-whose original name is also a Sanskrit-ised Dakhshinamurthy-why not changed to Tamil name-Thekkushilai instead of Karunanidhi?” tweeted J Gopalkrishnan, a journalist from Tamil Nadu who is known for exposing 2G scam.

See smile of Vaiko whose original name is Y Gopalaswamy during debate on Sanskrit UniversityBill.@Swamy39 mentions Sanskrit name of DMK Chief Karunanidhi-whose original name is also a Sanskrti-ised Dakhshinamurthy-why not changed to Tamil name-Thekkushilai instead of Karunanidhi? https://t.co/IYftpUKjUh — J Gopikrishnan (@jgopikrishnan70) March 16, 2020

Swamy has always been opposed to Vaiko, a supporter of LTTE cause who has been to both house of parliament multiple times and now a member of the upper house, to which Swamy is also a member.

Swamy argued that the entry of Vaiko in Rajya Sabha is to further the missionary cause. In July 2019, when Vaiko was nominated to the upper house by DMK-MDMK alliance, Swamy tweeted, “V. Gopal Swamy alias Vaiko is a Christian and a Self-confessed ideological widow of slain LTTE terrorist chief. His Rajya Sabha entry it seems is to further the Missionary agenda to rubbish Hindu culture and tradition.”

V. Gopal swamy alias Vaiko is a Christian and a Self confessed ideological widow of slain LTTE terrorist chief. His Rajya Sabha entry it seems is to further the Missionary agenda to rubbish Hindu culture and tradition. — Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) July 16, 2019

Swamy also demanded termination of Vaiko’s RS membership over his anti-Hindi comments in the house. Vaiko had said that, “What literature is there in Hindi? It has no roots and Sanskrit is a dead language. Those shouting in Hindi, nobody could understand even after using headphones (in Parliament). The standard of debates has deteriorated. The main reason for this is the imposition of Hindi. This is my view.”

Vaiko, the founder and General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), was with DMK till 1994 when he left the party to formulate his own entity in protest against Karunanidhi’s promotion of son Stalin as political successor while Vaiko saw himself as the rightful heir.

Vaiko is well known for anti-India, anti-Hindi, anti-North agenda. He was at the forefront of anti-Sterlite agitation in the state, the anti-hydrocarbon protest, the anti-neutrino and anti-NEET agitations- all of which had nefarious anti-India agenda which harmed the National interest, economically, socially, and politically. He is also facing a case for threatening the “integrity” of the country and has been jailed by the previous Tami Nadu governments for the same.