Madras HC to Centre: Use English for official purposes

LANGUAGE IS A SENSITIVE ISSUE IN TAMIL NADU, WHERE ANTI-HINDI AGITATIONS DATE BACK TO THE 1930S

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Thursday directed the Union government to strictly follow the provisions of the Official Languages Act mandating the use of English for official purposes of the Union and Parliament months after a Tamil Nadu lawmaker filed a petition seeking adherence to the law after a Union ministry responded to his letter in Hindi. Language is a sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu, where anti-Hindi agitations date back to the 1930s.

“The Union government must reply in English if you are getting a representation in English,” said Justices N Kirubakaran and M Duraiswamy of the court’s Madurai bench in their order.

Su Venkatesan, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Member of Parliament from Madurai, moved the court seeking the use of English in all communications between the Union and the Tamil Nadu government, its lawmakers and the people. This came after the Union home ministry responded in Hindi to his letter in English last year requesting the setting up of exam centres for the recruitments for paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

In protest, Venkatesan first sent another letter saying he does not belong to a Hinduspeaking state and does not know how to read, write and speak the language. He sought action against officials who sent him the reply in Hindi without an English translation, saying it violated the rights guaranteed under the Constitution as well as the Official Languages Act.

Officials from the home ministry were not available for a comment.

In 1938, protests first erupted against the alleged imposition of Hindi in now what is Tamil Nadu when then Madras Presidency premier C Rajagopalachari sought to make the language compulsory in schools. Protests erupted against Hindi again in 1965. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) rose to power first riding on this wave of protests in the 1967 assembly elections. No national political party has since emerged as an alternative to the regional parties.

The language issue has gained more importance since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power at the Centre in 2014. The ruling DMK has accused the BJP, which is known for its emphasis on Hindi, of trying to impose Hindi and Sanskrit.

The Centre informed the court the Union home ministry’s response in Hindi to Venkatesan was inadvertent and not intentional. The court said the Centre should use English along with Hindi citing Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, which says both Hindi and English should be used for the documents.

“They (union government) said that they did it unintentionally, but I wanted them to know that they are violating the law,” Venkatesan said.