Language row: 'We must keep politics out of this', says NCP leader Majeed Memon

Monday, 1 December 2014 - 2:45pm IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: ANI

Asserting that the syllabus in schools, colleges and universities must be determined by educationists, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Majeed Memon on Monday said this issue is not supposed to be decided by political considerations.
"The issue as to whether which language should be made compulsory or which language should be made optional is not supposed to be decided by political considerations. I think the syllabus in each university and colleges and schools must be determined by the educationists who know what policy would serve the interest of the concerned students' best," Memon told ANI here while reacting on former Congress MP Mahabal Mishra's remark that Sanskrit should be taught as a mandatory subject at least till Class X.
"So, I think we must keep politics out of this because I think there are RSS people, there are Muslims or there are Congress people who are making their suggestions," he added.
According to reports, the Congress leader made this observation during a meeting of the Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh (SSS) on Sunday. Mishra reportedly said that if Sanskrit is not taught in schools in the country, the "Indian culture will die out".
The Congress leader's observation comes at a time when the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre is being heavily criticized over the decision to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas.