Deputy DMK Kanimozhi criticized reports that Ayush ministry had refused non-Hindi speakers (File)
Chennai:
DMK MK Kanimozhi slammed reports that Ayush ministry secretary Rajesh Kotecha asked non-Hindi yoga teachers and doctors to quit a central government webinar if they didn’t speak or did not understand Hindi.
Ms Kanimozhi, who earlier this month said it was “shameful” to equate knowledge of Hindi with nationalism and denounced a case of language bias at an airport, said the alleged incident was “highly condemnable” and wrote to Ayush Minister Shripad Naik to demand an investigation into the matter.
In her letter to Minister Ayush, Ms. Kanimozhi began by wishing Mr. Naik a speedy recovery from the coronavirus; earlier this month, he became the fifth trade union minister to be infected with the virus.
Ms. Kanimozhi then reminded Mr. Naik “of the promise made by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru … on the Lok Sabha floor that as long as non-Hindi speaking states need English as an associated language, that continue to. .. “.
“I urge you to order an investigation … and take action against all officials who have acted in a discriminatory manner (against) our fellow citizens on the basis of language,” she wrote.
She asked that all ministry officials be responsible for conducting all meetings in English, with translations to be done in Hindi where and when needed.
My letter to the Honorable Minister of the Union @shripadynaik on Hindi imposition reported.#StopHindiImpositionpic.twitter.com/Wzlib2f9fl
– Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) 22 Aug 2020
She also posted a series of tweets about the incident.
“The statement by Ayush Vaidya’s Union Ministry Secretary Rajesh Kotecha that non-Hindi speaking participants could leave during a ministerial training session speaks volumes about the imposition of Hindi domination. highly reprehensible, ”she said in one of her tweets.
“The government should suspend the secretary and initiate appropriate disciplinary proceedings. How long should this attitude of excluding non-Hindi speakers be tolerated?” Ms. Kanimozhi, who previously asked “how learning Hindi will make a person an Indian,” added.
The government should suspend the secretary and initiate appropriate disciplinary proceedings. How long will this attitude of exclusion of non-Hindi speakers be tolerated?
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– Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) 22 Aug 2020
Tamil Nadu’s Lok Sabha MP from Thoothukudi then repeated his tweets in Tamil.
Mr. Kotecha, meanwhile, was quoted by The Hindu as claiming that the video of his comments had been manipulated. According to the report, Kotecha said his speech was disrupted by “hooligans”.
The report also quotes program participants who say they tried to explain the language problem, but are told that they (the speakers) are not fluent in any other language.
Minister of Ayush Rajesh Kotecha
Actor and politician Kamal Haasan, who launched his party – Makal Needhi Maiam – ahead of last year’s Lok Sabha polls, has also spoken out on politics rather than language, which is a hot topic in the southern states.
“Remember this is the government of India, not a Hindi government. It is the responsibility of the government to operate in a language that everyone understands,” he said, while throwing a beating. eye to doctors who practice “our medicine without understanding Tamil”. .
“It is magnanimous of our doctors not to ask how Ayush officials would understand our medicine without understanding Tamil,” said the actor, who has appeared in several successful Tamil and Hindi films.
Language has always been an emotional issue in Tamil Nadu, where the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which offers mother tongue or regional language education up to grade 5, has sparked controversy.
Calling it the imposition of Hindi, the state – where the AIADMK, a BJP ally, is in power – rejected the center’s trilingual formula in schools – two of which should be native.
The opposition, including the DMK, also opposed NEP 2020 and called for a review of the sweeping reforms it proposed.
In the 1960s, there was massive anti-Hindi unrest in the state after Congress, then in power at the center, attempted to make Hindi the official language.
