New Delhi, May 13: For once, Prakash Karat wants the government to do something — undertake a national linguistic survey.

The CPM general secretary, better known for blocking anything the government proposes to do, called on human resource development minister Arjun Singh on Sunday evening to hand over a letter requesting the survey.

“It is necessary that a national scientific linguistic survey be undertaken by the HRD ministry which would map the linguistic diversity of the country,” Karat told The Telegraph.

The Left leader also pointed out that the last “authentic” survey of Indian languages had been conducted by the British 100 years ago.

Karat has asked the ministry not to get bogged down by “apprehensions” raised by some quarters regarding such a survey.

The last census data shows more than 10,000 mother tongues in the country and also reveals many Indian languages are dying, he said, explaining why the survey was “appropriate”.

The ministry did have a plan to start the first national linguistic survey in independent India and the Central Institute of Indian Languages was entrusted with the task. The total project cost was estimated at Rs 600 crore.

But some sections said such a survey would add fuel to language-based politics and the demand for more states.

Karat — who apart from his mother tongue Malayalam can also speak Tamil, English and Hindi — told the HRD minister it would help preserve and promote diverse languages. Singh said he would look into the demand.