Use of Hindi on social media only for Hindi-speaking states, clarifies government
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 20:59
Use of Hindi on social media only for Hindi-speaking states, clarifies government
New Delhi: Just hours after facing severe criticism for issuing directives to use Hindi for official communications on social media, the Union government has been forced to issue a clarification. The Ministry of Home Affairs clarified its stand that stating that the directive is only for Hindi speaking states. The government also added that the directive is not imposing on non-hindi speaking states.
The government had been brought in the dock after several political leaders had lambasted its directive. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi noting that language was still a sensitive issue for many in the country. She opined that English be made the medium of communication on social platforms.
However, BJP ally Shiv Sena who has been vociferous in its Marathi approach backed Centre's decision in its editorial 'Saamana', calling Hindi a 'Rashtrabhasha'. "If Narendra Modi as the PM does not promote Hindi then who else will. PM in his first foreign visit to Bhutan spoke in Hindi," read a portion of the article. Raj Thackeray's MNS is yet to give its say on the matter which has now become a political row.
But, another BJP ally, the PMK, also a regional party of Tamil Nadu, has opposed the Modi government on this. PMK founder Ramadoss in a statement said that Hindi should not be imposed and demanded that 22 languages be declared as official languages. MDMK too has criticised the central government on the issue. DMK leader Vaiko said that the Tamil population will never accept Hindi and it was have an impact on the nation's unity. In a statement, Vaiko said, he is shocked and deeply saddened."
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that the Centre should be equally enthusiastic about regional languages too. She said, "Encouraging use of Hindi language is good but our country has rich heritage of regional languages. That should be encouraged too." But Uttar Pradesh CM and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is all for Hindi as he said, "SP government is always in favour of Hindi and Urdu. Samajwadi Party has always supported Hindi."
Another party criticising the move is the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which said, "he decision of the Modi government to use only Hindi language as the sole medium of communication for government information on social media is against the principle of linguistic equality and is an injustice to other national languages. Government should modify its policy and use along with Hindi other national languages as well as English for communication in social media."
While the Home Ministry argues that it never aimed at promoting Hindi at the cost of other languages, BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi stoked a controversy when he said that the Hindi speakers were considered illiterate and the English speaking a part of the elite class.
Here is the full release from the Prime Minister's Office on the government's directive: Use of Hindi on Government of India's social media platforms is only for Hindi Speaking States The attention of the Government has been drawn to the concerns expressed about instructions imposing the use of Hindi in non Hindi speaking States.
The Department of Official Languages, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India had issued a circular on 10th March, 2014 stating that in keeping with the existing policy of the Government regarding use of Hindi, Government of India communication in 'A' category States i.e. Hindi speaking States must give equal importance to the use of Hindi in its social media platforms. The instructions reiterated that both English and Hindi must be used on official Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc by the Government of India.
It is clarified that these instructions of the Department of Official Languages dated 10th March, 2014 do not seek to impose communication in Hindi on States which are not Hindi speaking. The instructions of Department of Official Languages have only reiterated the existing Government of India's policy on the use of Hindi in which the use of Hindi is compulsory in Government's communication only in the Hindi speaking States.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in its circular dated 27.05.2014 has communicated the above guidelines of the Department of Official Languages with regard to the social media to the departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Therefore, this is neither a new policy nor an attempt to impose the use of Hindi on any non Hindi speaking State.
source:http://ibnlive.in.com/