CHENNAI: A Sanskrit invocation song rendered at an event attended by Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Pon Radhakrishnan on Monday triggered a controversy with opposition leaders raising an issue alleging it was an attempt to impose Sanskrit and Hindi. The union ministers attended the foundation laying ceremony of National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts at IIT Madras. Four students sang “Maha Ganapathim”, a Sanskrit song penned by Muthuswami Dikshithar, during the invocation. Some television channels which filmed the invocation, aired it saying the popular Tamil invocation song – Tamil Thaai - was boycotted at the function.
The professors in IIT Madras said it is not uncommon to sing Sanskrit songs at the campus. “We do not have a policy on invocation and we leave it to the organisers to decide the invocation songs,” they added. “Some reporters who do not know the convention of central institutions like IIT Madras made it out as a controversial issue,” the professors alleged. Several political leaders including DMK working president M.K. Stalin, PMK founder Dr Ramadoss, MDMK general secretary Vaiko and CPM state secretary K.Balakrishnan demanded an apology from the central government. They also urged the state government to make it mandatory to sing the Tamil invocation at all events.
"The students of IIT Madras are from all over the country. We do not tell the students what to sing and they can choose whatever song they know to sing," IIT Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said. He added, "Sometimes the students sing Hindi, Marathi and Bengali songs. The students who know Tamil also sing Tamil invocation songs."
Earlier, speaking at the function Mr Nitin Gadkari said, "We are financially supporting the National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC) with '70 crore at an initial level. It will be self-sustaining in three years," The IIT Madras is establishing a National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC) that will work to modernise India's ports and fast track waterways.
It will be a strategic and innovation-oriented initiative tasked with bringing cutting-edge technology to India's ports, waterways and Maritime Sector. "The centre will be set up in the satellite campus of IIT Madras at Thaiyur near Chennai," Bhaskar Ramamurthi said.
