Former IRS officer and present TVK minister of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, Dr KG Arunraj, stirred controversy after describing the repeated playing of Vande Mataram at an official function as an example of “Hindi” and “Sanskrit” imposition by the BJP-led central government.
Speaking at a meeting in Namakkal, the TVK minister said: “We were all together with the minister, all the ministers were present. There were three functions: first the swearing-in ceremony, then again the cabinet portfolios, and then two more ministers were sworn-in. From the beginning it was ‘Vande Mataram’, when it started it was ‘Vande Mataram’, when it ended it was ‘Vande Mataram’. As long as this kind of arrogant attitude of forcibly imposing the Hindi language, the Sanskrit language, continues, the BJP will never be able to set foot firmly in Tamil Nadu. So, in a way, I am happy. You keep doing this, you keep imposing it more and more on us, and I will keep opposing you.”
The remarks immediately triggered criticism because “Vande Mataram” was originally composed in Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and is recognised as India’s national song, not a Hindi composition.
Questions were also raised over how a former IRS officer could publicly conflate Bengali literary works with Hindi imposition politics. Critics pointed out that even Jana Gana Mana, written by Rabindranath Tagore, is a Sanskritised form of Bengali rather than Hindi.
The controversy has fuelled criticism that Arunraj, despite his bureaucratic background, made a historically and linguistically inaccurate claim while attempting to attack the BJP over language politics. Several reactions online questioned the credibility of a senior minister and former civil servant who could not distinguish between Bengali and Hindi while speaking on a sensitive linguistic issue.
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