Srinagar: Days after the secretary of Ayurvedic, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) Minister Shripad Yesso Naik said that participants, who had joined an online conference, can “leave” if they have a “problem” with him speaking in Hindi, a Member of Parliament and chief of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party’s Art wing, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi has written to the Naik asking for all official events to be conducted in English.
Condemning the “incident of imposition” of Hindi, she wrote, “I urge you to direct the officials in your ministry to make sure that all official events are conducted in English and wherever Hindi is used, a corresponding translation in English is provided.”
My letter to the Honorable Union Minister @shripadynaik on the reported hindi imposition.#StopHindiImposition pic.twitter.com/Wzlib2f9fl
— Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) August 22, 2020
In response to this, the Ayush ministry’s secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, according to a report by Times of India, said: “It is possible to consider the suggestion and even a separate training programme for officers from TN is possible.”
Kotecha had earlier said he made ‘no statement that could hurt sentiments’. This is the second time in two weeks that DMK has registered its protest over the use of Hindi.
Last week, Kanimozhi was ‘asked by a Central Industrial Security Force officer asked her “if she was an Indian,” when she asked the woman official to speak in Tamil or English.
Today at the airport a CISF officer asked me if “I am an Indian” when I asked her to speak to me in tamil or English as I did not know Hindi. I would like to know from when being indian is equal to knowing Hindi.#hindiimposition
— Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) August 9, 2020
Following the episode, Kanimozhi said that nobody has any right to question her “Indianness”. “I am as much Indian as anybody else,” she said, adding that BJP was making it “political”.
“They are running an agenda to impose Hindi, including in the new National Education Policy,” Kanimozhi said.
The unpleasant experience of DMK MP Ms Kanimozhi at Chennai airport is not unusual.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 10, 2020
A day after Kanimozhi’s allegations, former Union minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted that he, too, had faced similar taunts from government officers.
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