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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Jayalalithaa, CPI(M) oppose Hindi promotion move
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Jayalalithaa, CPI(M) oppose Hindi promotion move

Parties say decision is against the principle of linguistic equality and is an injustice to other national languages

A file photo of J. Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu chief minister and head of the AIADMK party. Tamil parties such as the AIADMK and the DMK have traditionally opposed the use of Hindi. Photo: Saisen/MintPremium
A file photo of J. Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu chief minister and head of the AIADMK party. Tamil parties such as the AIADMK and the DMK have traditionally opposed the use of Hindi. Photo: Saisen/Mint

Chennai: Terming the Centre’s move to promote use of Hindi on social media as being against the “letter and spirit" of the law, Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to modify instructions to ensure that English will be the language of communication.

Jayalalithaa’s comments come after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M. Karunanidhi said on Thursday that the Prime Minister should focus on development rather than on promoting Hindi.

The chief minister said she had learnt that two office memoranda issued by the Union home ministry “direct that official accounts on social media like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Google and YouTube, which at present use only English, should compulsorily use Hindi, or both Hindi and English, with Hindi being written above or first."

That makes the use of Hindi mandatory and English optional, she said in the letter.

“As you are aware, as per the Official Languages Rules, 1976, communications from a central government office to a state or Union Territory in Region “C" or to any office (not being a central government office) or person in such state shall be in English."

“This provision has been introduced following the introduction of a mandatory proviso in Section 3(1) of the Official Languages Act, 1963, by an amendment in 1968 which states (that), ‘English language shall be used for purposes of communication between the Union and a state which has not adopted Hindi as its official language," she pointed out.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), on Friday also attacked the Narendra Modi government for its directive on the use of Hindi as the medium for government communication on social media while seeking modification of the same. “Government should modify its policy and, along with Hindi, use other national languages as well as English for communication on social media," the party’s politburo said.

The Modi government’s decision to use Hindi as the sole medium of communication for government information on social media was “against the principle of linguistic equality and is an injustice to other national languages," it said.

MDMK chief Vaiko also cited Modi’s preference of the social media platform and said that the Centre’s advisory on Hindi was a “matter of concern".

He demanded that all Indian languages be made official languages in the interest of the country’s “unity and integrity" and till such time English should continue as the official language.

He recalled that the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government had set up a panel to look into making all languages in the VIII schedule of the Constitution as official languages.

“Tamil Nadu will never accept imposition of Hindi," he said in a statement, while recalling the earlier anti-Hindi agitation.

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Published: 20 Jun 2014, 03:14 PM IST
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