Request to make Sanskrit an official language of India is not realistic: Shashi Tharoor

Sanskrit a wonderful language but advice to make it official language is not realistic, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said after National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) chairman Nand Kumar Sai said he will speak to the Human Resource and Development Ministry to make Sanskrit India's official language.

"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," Mr Tharoor told news agency ANI.

"We are struggling to improve our educational system so that people can understand and read and write better," he added.

The Congress lawmaker said that it would be a stretch to suddenly turn Sanskrit into an official or a national language and the decision could have been made much earlier.

"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.

Mr Sai had on Thursday said that Sanskrit should be made the official language of the country and added that he will speak to the Human Resource and Development (HRD) Ministry on this issue.

"Sanskrit is the oldest language and it has an impact on various other languages of our country. So I think Sanskrit can put an end to all controversies regarding the use of languages. It can be made the official language," he told news agency ANI.

"Students have stopped learning Sanskrit even though it is a very easy language," the chairman added.

His comments came after the Centre dropped the provision of compulsory teaching of Hindi in the schools of non-Hindi speaking states due to protests in Tamil Nadu and other states of the country.