CHENNAI: Criticising the disparity in the allocation of funds for Sanskrit and other classical languages under the BJP-led union government, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday took a veiled dig at the ruling saffron party and said that the Union was allocating funds for Sanskrit while shedding crocodile tears for Tamil, among other classical languages.

Sharing a media report detailing the disparity in funds allocations by the BJP regime ever since the Modi-led government took the reins in 2014, Stalin, in a message posted on his ‘X’ handle, said, “Sanskrit gets the crores; Tamil and other south Indian languages get nothing but crocodile tears.”

According to a media report, the Union government spent Rs 2,532 crore on promoting Sanskrit between 2014-15 and 2024-25, which was 17 times the combined spending of Rs 147 crore on the other five classical languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia.

Chief Minister slammed the BJP-led Union government for feigning affection for Tamil, but all the money went only to Sanskrit.