Union minister HDK signs up for Hindi lessons
Kumaraswamy’s efforts come at a time when the Centre is often at odds with Southern states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala for what they term ‘Hindi imposition.
New Delhi: Union minister and former Karnataka chief minister has blocked off his weekday mornings for about 90 minutes . Since November, the Janata Dal Secular leader and key National Democratic Alliance(NDA) partner HD Kumaraswamy spends that time with his Hindi tutor online so that along with reading and writing he he can do what politicians really need to do -- converse in Hindi.
“It’s very difficult otherwise,’’ said Kumaraswamy, when HT asked him why. “Everybody in North India speaks in Hindi, most MPs speak in Hindi, my officials speak in Hindi , and even in Cabinet, they speak a lot in Hindi. So I have to learn, there’s no other way.”
It’s not the first time that Kumaraswamy is spending so much time in Delhi. He has been a member of parliament twice before. But, when the NDA came back to power in June last year, Kumaraswamy became a cabinet minister at the Centre for the first time and by his own admission, became “a lot more active in Delhi.”
While the minister, like many others who came before him, thought that his knowledge of English would ensure a smooth functioning of business in Delhi, it proved to be much tougher. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bilingual and can converse just fine with Kumaraswamy in English, it was the other senior cabinet ministers who posed a challenge.
Hindi and English are both official languages.
“Recently, I went to the North-East and I thought there it would be fine. But, in Nagaland, I couldn’t find people who could speak to me in English. They preferred Hindi. In Jharkhand, even our own MP couldn’t talk to me,’’ said the minister. And so the daily tution has helped immensely.
“ I have been trying out a little bit (of Hindi) in meetings with my officials,’’ he said, “ I think I will pick up soon enough.” Kumaraswamy may be aspiring to be like his father HD Devegowda, prime minister for about 9 months in 1996-97. The former prime minister gave speeches in Hindi in office and while he mostly speaks in English in Rajya Sabha, is very “comfortable” in Hindi, according to aides.
That’s a sharp contrast from a senior cabinet minister from Tamil Nadu in UPA-1 who could speak neither Hindi nor English.
Kumaraswamy’s efforts come at a time when the Centre is often at odds with Southern states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala for what they term “Hindi imposition”. There has also been a counter movement with members of parliament from TN like K Kanimozhi speaking only in Tamil during her speeches and Trinamool leaders from Bengal, speaking in Bengali.
Kumraswamy’s learning efforts have been encouraged by his actor-turned-politician son, Nikhil, who is fluent in Hindi.
Still, it’s not easy. The minister’s days begin with tuition at 630 am, and extend well past midnight, but he is hoping his efforts will soon pay off.
But there isn’t much demand for a larger language class in Parliament. “We have had only a couple of informal queries to hold Hindi lessons in Parliament. There wasn’t a serious suggestion and so it isn’t part of the training we offer,’’ said a Lok Sabha official in charge of training.
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