Parliament clears Bill to convert three Sanskrit institutions into central universities

Parliament on Monday cleared a bill to grant central university status to Delhi-based Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth as well as Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in Tirupati.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019 by voice vote after the members debated on it. The Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had moved the Bill for its passage in the Upper House

The Lok Sabha had given its nod to the Bill in December last year.

Sanskrit scholars and academia had since long been demanding for grant of central university status to the three Sanskrit institutions. The demands grew louder after the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre, winning the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

The grant of central university status to the three Sanskrit institutions, which are deemed to be universities and certified by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council as grade 'A” institutions, would be a shot in their arms.

They would now have powers to grant affiliation to the colleges and expand their footprints.

During a debate on the Bill in Rajya Sabha, the DMK and MDMK opposed it.

DMK member M Shanmugam said that the Bill was against the classical languages such as Tamil.

“The purpose of converting these universities into the central universities is to eliminate the other languages. In no uncertain terms, I would declare that this Bill, if enacted, will be the root cause to demolish Indian unity and democracy,” MDMK member Vaiko said, while participating in the Bill.

He termed the Bill as “disastrous” and said that all the State legislatures should adopt a resolution against it.

“I oppose this Bill lock, stock and barrel. Sanskrit is a dead language. Tamil is the only ancient language which is the mother of all languages,” Vaiko added.

Congress members Jairam Ramesh, Trinamool Congress' Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and BJD's Prashant Nanda spoke in Sanskrit while participating in the debate on the Bill.

“Sanskrit has always been a monopoly of a few and that is a matter of great sadness and tragedy for India. We have to make this monopoly of the few into the treasure of many. And, that is what this bill should hope to accomplish," Ramesh said while supporting the bill.