"This would be in keeping with the cultural and linguistic sensitivities in a diverse country like ours," the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said in a letter to Mr. Modi.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to take steps to “modify” a recent directive of the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry to all States to celebrate ‘Sanskrit Week’ from Aug 7- Aug 13.

“I request you to advise the officials in the Government of India to suitably modify the letter to enable each State, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools in that State, to organise celebrations in tune with the language and culture of the State,” she said in a letter to Mr. Modi. “This would be in keeping with the cultural and linguistic sensitivities in a diverse country like ours,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said.

The circular from the HRD Ministry indicated that the ‘Sanskrit week’ celebrations would be conducted by the CBSE, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in all States. The State Governments have also been requested to organise such events at the State, district and other levels. The issue had sparked condemnations by political parties in Tamil Nadu.

Underscoring that Tamil Nadu “has a rich cultural heritage based on the ancient Tamil language,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said that “there has also been a strong social justice and language movement in the State.”

“Hence, any official celebration of ‘Sanskrit week’ in Tamil Nadu is highly inappropriate. It would have been much more appropriate to have organised a Classical Language Week in each State based on the linguistic heritage of that State,” Ms. Jayalalithaa added.