CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU – November 21, 2025 — Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has ignited a fresh political controversy by labelling Sanskrit a “dead language,” a comment made while criticizing the Union government’s language funding priorities. The remarks have drawn immediate and sharp condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has accused the DMK leader of disrespecting culture and religious sentiment.

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The Core Allegation: Funding Disparity

 

Mr. Stalin, speaking at a book release event in Chennai on Friday, focused his attack on the central government’s alleged disparity in allocation between Tamil and Sanskrit.

The DMK leader criticized the Union government for allocating only ₹150 crore for Tamil development. In stark contrast, he claimed that the government has allocated approximately ₹2,400 crore over the past ten years for Sanskrit, a language he controversially termed “a dead language.”

Quote (Udhayanidhi Stalin): “In the last 10 years, the Union Government has allocated only ₹150 crore for the development of Tamil. But for the ‘dead’ language Sanskrit, ₹2,400 crore has been allocated. How is this fair?”

He further targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent comments expressing a desire to learn Tamil, questioning the sincerity of the gesture while accusing the Centre of attempting to impose Hindi and Sanskrit on the state.

BJP Hits Back: Insulting Culture and Faith

 

The BJP responded swiftly, with senior leader Tamilisai Soundararajan leading the counter-attack, demanding that the Deputy Chief Minister withdraw his statement immediately.

Ms. Soundararajan, who previously served as the Governor of Telangana, asserted that no political leader has the right to dismiss any language as dead, especially one that remains central to the country’s religious and cultural practices.

Quote (Tamilisai Soundararajan): “No one has the right to call any language dead, especially the one that is still used today in prayers and rituals across the country… This mindset of appreciating one language only by putting down another is fundamentally wrong.”

She stressed that Tamil culture does not endorse the degradation of other languages, noting that Tamil itself is an open-hearted language that has absorbed words and ideas from many tongues, including Sanskrit. She condemned Mr. Stalin for allegedly insulting the language used in “all our prayers.”

Wider Political Context

 

This is not the first time Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comments have triggered a nationwide political storm. The remarks on Sanskrit follow his previous controversial statements regarding ‘Sanatana Dharma,’ which had also led to intense confrontation with the BJP and other right-wing groups.

Political analysts suggest this new controversy re-ignites the long-standing debate over language and cultural identity, which is a key platform for the DMK’s Dravidian ideology, pitting state-level linguistic pride against the Centre’s perceived promotion of Sanskrit and Hindi.