Opposition MPs on Thursday accused the Center of using Hindi to introduce new bills in the Rajya Sabha, while the government hit back, saying the opposition was clinging to colonialism.
During the Winter Session of Parliament, Trinamool Member of Parliament, Sagarika Ghosh, questioned the title of the Hindi bill, Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024, which seeks to replace the 90-year-old Aviation Act to increase ease of doing business and attract investors to the sector of aviation.
“Why do so many laws have Hindi words? This is the imposition of Hindi. The goal of the people in 2024 was diversity, benefits and the system of the state, but the government insists on ‘changing’ the laws. This is Hindi to apologize,” said Ghose.
DMK, YSR CONGRESS PROMOTE HINDI NAMES WITH LETTERS
Not only Trinamool Congress, DMK and YSR Congress have also jumped into the fray.
DMK Members of Parliament Kanimozhi and NVN Somu joined the government, asking it to change its name.
Kanimozhi urged the central government to review the decision regarding the Hindi wording of the bill. “Don’t try to force Hindi on people who don’t speak Hindi,” he said. Somu called for a moratorium on naming bills in Hindi and Sanskrit, stressing the need for language integration.
The DMK and other parties in Tamil Nadu have long expressed strong opposition to the introduction of Hindi in the state. The DMK has always expressed concern over the use of Hindi, saying it should not be forced on non-Hindi speakers.
US Niranjan Reddy of YSRCP called for revision of the “wording” of the bill. He said his concern was not against Hindi but about the constitutional requirement. “The bill, which currently has a Hindi title, may face legal challenges because Article 348 (1B) mandates that authorized documents be in English, not Hindi,” he added.
Reddy said he spoke on behalf of the 56 percent of Indians who do not speak Hindi as their mother tongue. He spoke about their interests, stressing that the focus is not on opposing the bill but on ensuring that it represents linguistic diversity in India.
BJP IS ON
However, BJP leader Ghanshyam Tiwari rejected the opposition’s claims of imposing Hindi and pointed out that the bill, called in that language, was introduced by Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, a Telugu-speaking leader.
Tiwari said the decision to introduce the bill with a Hindi title was in line with the constitutional provisions and stressed that choosing any language for the title should not be taken as an attempt to force it. He criticized the opposition party, saying that their opposition reflects “the mentality of the colonial period”.
Responding to objections from opposition parties, Naidu defended the decision to name the bill in Hindi. He explained that the change from English to Hindi was made to “reflect the heritage and culture of India”.
Naidu clarified that the change of language does not violate any constitutional provisions. He said this decision is in line with respecting India’s linguistic and cultural diversity, and opposing claims of any violation of the law or the constitution.
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