Sanskrit was the new cool on social media on Wednesday after three cabinet ministers were seen taking oath as members of Parliament in the ancient language.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan took oath in Sanskrit as members of the 16th Lok Sabha. But were they just reading from a written text or are they really conversant in the language most of us have studied in school but forgotten soon after? Turns out the BJP trio has some grounding in Sanskrit, if we look into their backgrounds.
Sushma Swaraj has done her B.A. with majors in Sanskrit and Political Science. Harsh Vardhan has studied at Sanskrit Victoria Jubilee Senior Secondary School in Delhi. Uma Bharti, since childhood, showed keen interest in religious texts such as Bhagavad Gita, written in Sanskrit.Moment after they took oath, tweets started pouring in on Twitter praising the ministers for using the language in Lok Sabha.
Here are some of the tweets:
-On twitter after some time. Good to see Sanskrit trending. Though the technically correct pronunciation would be Sanskrut. Having said that, whether you call it Sanskrit or Sanskrut, it is a language worth learning. The scientific precision of it is awe-inspiring – @amisht
Next: Economic Survey in Sanskrit: Ajit Ranade@ajit_ranade
– Sushma Swaraj made all Indians proud by taking oath in perfect Sanskrit. To all friends who took oath in Sanskrit, Hardik Sadhuvad!- @Tarun Vijay
– Its high time Sanskrit must get its due. After C#,US realized Sanskrit is more apt to Comp., Indians neglected, Now Panini wud b smiling 😀 -@Atul_Speaks
HOW many educated Indian know SANSKRIT?: Darshan Singh@dsphul
-Salute to @drharshvardhan ji for taking oath in Sanskrit.. (I missed it but will watch on you tube)- @nanditathhakur
– The swearing in ceremony of the Lok Sabha is a linguistic ensemble: sanskrit, punjabi, hindi….Nice tribute to India’s plural character-@capitalcalculus
– Our Women Leaders @SushmaSwaraj and @umasribharti have taken oath in Sanskrit. Seems the Mother of all language Sanskrit has now good days.-@Shanktan
For the first time, Sanskrit is trending on twitter. Can someone dig out my 2-3 year old tweets saying-Will Sanskritize twitter 1 day? :P: Mihir Jha-16.05.2014@Talk_karma
Source India Today
Watch the oath being taken here
