Chennai: A woman from Tamil Nadu was allegedly ridiculed by a member of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Goa’s Dabolim airport for not knowing Hindi. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin later condemned the incident and described it as “reflecting a systemic insensitivity”.
The woman, Sharmilaa Rajasekaran, was travelling to Chennai from Goa with her three-year-old on the evening of 12 December when the incident took place at the airport’s security check-in.
Speaking to ThePrint, Sharmilaa, a Chennai-based engineer, said that she was asked to take another tray by the CISF member in Hindi. When she said she did not understand the instruction, the CISF member allegedly mocked her and said Tamil Nadu was in India and she should learn the “national language”.
When she refuted his statement — saying that Hindi is just an official language and not the national language — she was asked to “google it”.
“I was with my three-year-old daughter and I went ahead with the security check, took my phone, googled and showed the lady officer that Hindi is only the official language. The way I was treated was very inhuman and culturally insensitive,” she wrote in her complaint email to Goa’s Dabolim airport grievance officer. ThePrint has accessed this letter.
Sharmilaa told ThePrint that later when she shared her ordeal with her husband, “many other passengers too stated that they were treated badly for not knowing Hindi and that is when I decided to register a complaint with the CISF officer in-charge and the airport grievance officer.” She sent the letter before she even boarded the flight that day.
She said that she had received a call on 14 December from a CISF officer who “said that serious action will be taken on the issue. “I have told them that I don’t want any serious action taken on any individual, but I only want the officials to be a little more sensitive towards cultural diversity, language preferences and have a little more humanity with the public in general,” she added.
ThePrint reached Apoorv Pandey, public relations officer of the CISF, via email. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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‘Stop Hindi imposition’
Tamil Nadu CM and DMK leader Stalin condemned the incident on social media Thursday, saying: “The recurring incidents of passengers from non-Hindi-speaking states facing harassment by #CISF personnel for not knowing Hindi and being forced to accept the misguided notion that Hindi is the national language of India are deeply concerning.”
“As the passenger Sharmilaa rightly pointed out, this is not just an issue concerning individuals but reflects a systemic insensitivity,” he added.
Calling for equal respect for all languages, he further asked for the CISF to sensitise personnel on how to treat passengers and educate them about the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of India.
The recurring incidents of passengers from non-Hindi speaking states facing harassment by #CISF personnel for not knowing Hindi and being forced to accept the misguided notion that Hindi is the national language of India are deeply concerning. As the passenger Sharmilaa rightly…
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) December 14, 2023
Tamil Nadu sports minister and Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi also commented on the issue, saying the “CISF was for security and not for conducting Hindi lessons”.
DMK MP Kanimozhi had also allegedly been taunted by a CISF member at the Chennai airport in 2020 for not knowing Hindi.
Today at the airport a CISF officer asked me if “I am an Indian” when I asked her to speak to me in tamil or English as I did not know Hindi. I would like to know from when being indian is equal to knowing Hindi.#hindiimposition
— Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) August 9, 2020
Tamil Nadu saw its first anti-Hindi agitation in 1937 when the Indian National Congress-led government introduced compulsory teaching of Hindi in schools of the then Madras Presidency.
From 1946 onwards, anti-Hindi agitations were held by the Dravidar Kazhagam, the Periyar-led movement, and then the DMK, to ensure other Indian languages and English were also recognised as the official languages of the country and that there was no one national language.
This year, the DMK again upped its ante on “Hindi imposition” when Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced three Bills in Parliament with Hindi titles. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill are meant to replace the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act.
Stalin said this was an “audacious attempt by the Union BJP government to tamper with the essence of India’s diversity through a sweeping overhaul”, adding that the move “reeks of linguistic imperialism”.
“This is an affront to the very foundation of #INDIA’s unity. BJP and Prime Minister Modi have no moral right to even utter the word #Tamil hereafter,” he added.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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