Opinions

Do Kanimozhi’s allegations of ‘Hindi Imposition’ hold water?

August 12, 2020
Dr. SG Suryah

On August 9, DMK MP Kanimozhi alleged that she was asked by a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer at the airport if she was an Indian when she asked the officer to speak in either Tamil or English as the legislator supposedly did not know Hindi.

The CISF official twitter account replied to the DMK MP’s tweet asking for the journey details to look into the matter and take appropriate action.

The DMK MP did not disclose the details in public domain. However, the CISF later said that it has ordered an enquiry and that it is not the policy of CISF to insist on a particular language.

Following this, Rajya Sabha MP P. Chidambaram jumped the bandwagon claiming that he too had encountered similar experiences from government officials and ordinary citizens.

In a later statement, the DMK MP tweeted that “stealth imposition of Hindi” was widespread. She also said that it was not a tirade against an individual but to point out the lack of appropriate training.

While imposition of any language on anyone is wrong, let us see if Kanimozhi’s allegations hold water.

Anyone who has travelled by air will be able to recall that, CISF officers are usually placed at two points – the different entry gates of the airport terminal, and at the security check.

When a passenger enters the airport first, the CISF officer at the terminal gate checks the ticket and the identity proof. They look whether the details of the passenger in the ticket matches with the ID proof. The scope for a verbal interaction at this point is highly improbable as there is no need to. Usually, it is the male officers who are posted at this point. So, the probability of DMK MP Kanimozhi encountering the female officer here is dim. Once entering the airport, normal passengers proceed to get their baggage screened and checked-in at the respective airline’s check-in counter where they are issued the boarding pass. VIPs like Member of Parliament, Ministers, etc are escorted directly to the security clearance area.

Here, male and female passengers have separate queues. At this point, passengers are frisked thoroughly and their hand baggages are scanned. So, given the fact that the DMK MP encountered a female officer, it should have been at the security clearance area that the incident must have happened. Here too, the interaction that happens is very minimal. The boarding pass is checked and sealed by the officer after frisking. Beyond this point, there are no CISF officers posted.

Now, CISF personnel come from different regions of the country. They guard critical installations and infrastructure of our country leaving their family back home. An officer hailing from Jharkhand could be posted in Tamil Nadu while a person from Tamil Nadu could be posted in Guwahati’s airport. It is possible that the said officer might have used her mother tongue Hindi involuntarily to address passengers during the security check. They might not even have used complicated sentence as only the passengers’ boarding pass is asked for. At the most, they might have asked the passengers to maintain social distancing, keep their boarding passes ready or remove metallic elements if they have any in their baggage or on their body. It is possible that CISF personnel could have addressed the crowd in her comfortable tongue – Hindi.

Even if there had been an altercation between the MP and the CISF personnel, she could have directly complained to the Commandant Officer of the airport for the alleged behaviour of the officer.

Instead, she took to Twitter to claim that India was facing “Hindi Imposition”.

But, the DMK MP claiming that she did not know Hindi is at best ludicrous.

Kanimozhi is a person who is well versed in Hindi. Here are some facts:

1. When the Nira Radia tapes were made public, Radia can be heard speaking to Kanimozhi in Hindi. She even says in her conversation with Radia that she was at a mall to purchase music album of Fateh Ali Khan, the Pakistani singer.

2. In which language did she speak to north Indians like Shahid Balwa, Karim Morani and Vinod Goenka during her 2G negotiations? Probably only English as none of them know Tamil.

3. In which language did she speak to her lawyers Kapil Sibal, Abishek Singhvi, Ram Jethmalani for the 2G case –? Probably only English.

4. If imposition of Hindi is a problem, why does Sunshine school run by Stalin’s daughter offer Hindi?

It would be better if the DMK MP answers these questions, before she casts aspersions on a CISF personnel imposing Hindi.

This happened on the day as millions of Tamils cutting across sections conducted “Vel Pooja” in response to Karuppar Koottam’s slander against Hindu God Murugan and Kandha Sashti Kavasam. The Karuppar Koottam episode has led to a churn among the Tamil populace with the DMK facing backlash as evidences emerge of its link with the rabid Youtube channel. This whole episode has been seen as an attempt by the DMK to rake up the language issue by igniting ‘anti-Hindi sentiments’ as Tamil Nadu goes to polls in a few months.