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Government continues to give ‘unfair’ advantage to Hindi, says Stalin
“... the Union Government and its institutions continue to give an undue and unfair advantage to Hindi, over other Indian languages...” Stalin tweeted
The Union government and its institutions continue to give an “undue” and “unfair” advantage to Hindi over other Indian languages, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said on Monday, as he strongly opposed a recent circular issued by a public sector insurance company for Hindi implementation.
Also read: Will resist attempt to replace Tamil with Hindi in our land: MK Stalin
Stalin, who is also the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), called for immediate withdrawal of the circular issued by The New India Assurance Company Ltd, a government of India undertaking.
“While each and every citizen of India is contributing to its development, the Union Government and its institutions continue to give an undue and unfair advantage to Hindi, over other Indian languages in every possible way,” Stalin tweeted, sharing a copy of the circular. “Also, they are intent on spending their valuable resources on imposing Hindi down our throats, rather than for public welfare.”
In its circular, dated April 3, the Mumbai-headquartered insurance company directed all its department in-charges to comply with guidelines issued by the Centre to ensure implementation of official languages in all offices. The company listed out 31 guidelines for Hindi implementation as part of the annual programme issued by the Union home ministry’s department of official languages.
In the circular, the insurance company asked all its department in-charges to “ensure one Hindi workshop every quarter” with mandatory participation of at least 20 employees. “Publish Hindi in house magazine of your region regularly…,” one of the guidelines read. “Ensure the purchase of Hindi books and maintain the Hindi Library in the regional officer in an orderly manner.”
The circular also directed all offices to ensure 100% compliance of Section 3(3) of the Official Language Act, 1963, which designates English and Hindi for use for official purposes of the Union government.
Stalin described the circular, written in Hindi and English, as “disrespect” shown towards non-Hindi speakers of India and non-Hindi speaking employees of the company, and sought an apology from the firm’s chairperson Neerja Kapur.
“Gone are the days of non-Hindi speaking citizens of India tolerating the second-class treatment meted out to them, despite their contribution in propelling India’s growth with their hard work and talent,” Stalin said. “Tamil Nadu and DMK will do everything under our power to stop Hindi imposition, as we have always strived in our history. We will remove the undeserving special status that Hindi enjoys everywhere in the Union Government, like Railways, Postal Department, Banking and Parliament that affects us and our people on a day-to-day basis.”
He further said: “We pay taxes, contribute to the progress and believe in our rich heritage and this nation’s diversity. Our languages deserve to be treated equally. We will resist any attempt to replace Tamil with Hindi in our land.”
In a reply to Stalin’s tweet on Monday, the public sector firm said: “New India Assurance specifically mentioned under point 25 that all advertisements and press releases to be published in newspapers in English, Hindi and Regional languages as done by other Public Sector Organisation of India. We respect all regional languages.”
While, the state BJP president K Annamalai reacted to the incident said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the past nine year, has done many welfare developments for Tamil language and the people of Tamil Nadu.
“In the last nine years, Hon’ble Prime Minister has done many welfare programs for the development of Tamil language, Tamils, Tamil Nadu women, youth and students. Not only that, our Prime Minister is proud of taking Tamil language all over the world,” Annamalai tweeted.
Also read: Tamil Nadu CM Stalin attacks Centre after RBI withdraws ₹2000 notes
This is not the first time Stalin has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government of “Hindi imposition”. In March this year, the Tamil Nadu chief minister slammed the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) over its directive to use the term Dahi (Hindi for curd) on packaging of curd, with the regional name within brackets after the Hindi one. Stalin had termed the directive as “unabashed Hindi imposition”. Later, the FSSAI rolled back its directive.