Oppn demands action against AYUSH secretary

Political parties in the state have mounted pressure on the Centre to reprimand union AYUSH secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha for asking non-Hindi speaking participants to exit an online training session for not knowing Hindi.

Whilea addressing a group of yoga and naturopathy practitioners from Tamil Nadu on Thursday, Kotecha said on camera that he would speak only in Hindi as he was not fluent in English and that participants who wanted English, “could leave”.

Condemning the ‘shameful’ and ‘uncouth’ behavior of the union AYUSH secretary, DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday said the people of Tamil Nadu were naturally led to doubt if the secretary were given a two-year extension only to intensely campaign for Hindi and insult mother Tamil.

Remarking that it was unbecoming of his position to threaten doctors from Tamil Nadu who asked him to train in English and pointed out his long lecture about Yoga while the training was for natural medicine, Stalin, in a statement issued on Saturday, said the secretary would not have exhibited a chauvinistic behavior if the Centre had initiated strict action against the CISF officer who questioned DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi’s nationality for not knowing Hindi.

The intention of the BJP regime to impose Hindi is evident from it permitting officials to act thus one after another, Stalin remarked, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure such incidents do not recur and initiate strict action against AYUSH secretary for acting in an indecent manner with Tamil Nadu doctors.

Stalin also asked Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to mount pressure on the PM to ensure that such meetings take place in English, which is the link language for non-Hindi speaking states.

Joining the issue with her party chief, Kanimozhi said the statement of Secretary of the Union Ministry of AYUSH Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha that non Hindi speaking participants could leave during a Ministry’s training session speaks volumes about the Hindi domination being imposed.

Calling it condemnable, Kanimozhi, who also wrote to the ministry concerned in this regard, said the government should place the secretary under suspension and initiate appropriate disciplinary proceedings.

How long is this attitude of excluding non-Hindi speakers to be tolerated?

Congress MP from Karur S Jothimani who was among the Tamil Nadu MPs to write to the Centre in this regard, said, “the secretary’s action was disappointing and betrays its failure to uphold diversity, a value our Constitution is committed to,” urging the ministry to clarify its position on the issue.

State Congress president KS Alagiri asked the PM to ensure that such meetings were bi-lingual and cautioned that they would be forced to organize massive protests against the BJP regime to protect the assurance India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru gave to non-Hindi speaking people.