The senior functionaries with the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) and members of the committee formed for setting up of Bharathiya Bhasha Vishwavidyalaya (BBV) at Mysuru on Friday denied any move to merge the CICT with the BBA. The DMK, PMK, MMK, VCK, and other parties claimed there was such a move, and vehemently opposed the decision.
Heads of these parties requested Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to take up this issue with the Centre immediately so that the CICT would continue to function as an autonomous body based in Chennai. When TNIE contacted a member of the committee for BBA, the person said: "This is election time and politicians will make allegations. That's all."
When enquired about this development, CICT sources said on November 27, the Language Division of the Union Ministry of Education, on November 27 had issued an order for upgrading the Central Institute of Indian Languages at Mysuru as the BBA and also to form the Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) at Mysuru.
Besides, a 11-member committee headed by former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami has been constituted for looking into the various issues that needed to be considered for setting up of BBV and IITI. The CICT sources further said: " One of the topics mentioned in the order for consideration is - How the functioning of the Centres of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages could be accommodated within the proposed university. This could have been misconstrued as the move to merge the CICT with the BBV in Mysuru."
The CICT sources also explained that there are Centres for excellence for four languages - Malayalam, Telugu, Kanada and Oriya. But CICT pertaining to Tamil language is an autonomous body and has been registered with the Tamil Nadu Societies Act. Besides, the State Chief Minister is the chairperson of this Institute. So, CICT is not a Centre for excellence."
A senior functionary associated with the CICT told TNIE: " A proposal is made but the committee has not yet met. No decision has been taken so far. But political parties taking up this issue could be necessary since any such move to shift the CICT to Mysuru could be nipped in the bud." The functionary also said: "Even if such a decision is taken by the Centre, the Tamil Nadu government should oppose it. In fact, the Chief Minister who is the chairperson of the CICT alone can take up this with the Centre."
