Govt focus on Hindi is against linguistic equality: CPI (M)

New Delhi: CPI(M) on Friday attacked the Narendra Modi government for its directive on the use of Hindi as the medium for government communication on social media while seeking modification of the same. [caption id=“attachment_1580609” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] CPI (M) politburo released a statement against NDA government’s prioritisation of Hindi. Reuters[/caption] “Government should modify its policy and, along with Hindi, use other national languages as well as English for communication on social media,” the party’s politburo said in a statement in New Delhi. The Modi government’s decision to use Hindi as the sole medium of communication for government information on social media was “against the principle of linguistic equality and is an injustice to other national languages,” it said. A recent circular issued by the Director (official language) Avadesh Kumar Mishra, said, “All officers and employees who operate official accounts on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Google, Youtube should use Hindi and English languages. Prominence should be given to Hindi.” It had also announced a cash reward for those employees who do most of their official work in Hindi. However, after a controversy broke out over the issue, the government sought to downplay the circular, saying it would promote all languages of the country. Dubbing it as the beginning of “imposition of Hindi”, DMK chief M Karunanidhi had said “giving priority to Hindi will be construed as a first step towards creating differences among non-Hindi speaking people and making them second class citizens.” PTI