DMK MP Kanimozhi  |  Photo Credit: PTI
Key Highlights
- Reportedly, AYUSH Ministry Secretary had asked non-Hindi participants to leave the virtual training event conducted by the ministry
- He then continued to speak in Hindi for people present at the webinar
Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi on Saturday demanded action against Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary of the AYUSH Ministry, for allegedly asking non-Hindi participants to leave the virtual training session organised by the Centre.
She also demanded that all Union Government events should be held in English and English translation should be provided to people when it is conducted in Hindi.
In her letter to MoS Shripad Naik, Kanimozhi brought the incident to his attention writing, “An incident of the imposition of Hindi has taken place during a webinar conducted by the AYUSH Ministry. It is in clear violation of our constitutional principles.”
“During the event, it has been reported that the Union Secretary of the Government, Ministry of AYUSH, has told non-Hindi speaking participants to leave the meeting if they did not understand Hindi and continued to speak in Hindi,” she added.
The DMK MP recalled that there are 22 languages listed as official languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution and reminded former PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s “promise” that as long as non-Hindi speaking states require English as an associate language, it will continue for an indefinite period.
Kanimozhi then urged Shripad Naik to order an inquiry into the incident and take action against all officials who were involved in the incident.
According to reports, most of the speakers spoke in Hindi which many delegates from non-Hindi speaking states including 37 from Tamil Nadu said was difficult to follow.
Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, while addressing the gathering said he was not fluent in English and will speak in Hindi and allegedly asked those seeking instructions in English to leave.
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