NEW DELHI: ICAI President Nihar N Jambusaria has asked its members to promote Hindi, adopt it in their work and interactions with other stakeholders, eliciting criticism from certain quarters where concerns have been raised about overtones to impose the language.
"Realising the power of our mother tongue Hindi, ICAI is trying to incorporate more use of Hindi into its work culture," he said in his monthly newsletter that was released recently.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), set up under an Act of Parliament, is the country's apex body for chartered accountants.
It has more than three lakh members.
About the message eliciting concerns in certain quarters, Jambusaria said there is no compulsion on using Hindi language for the members.
"There is no compulsion (on using Hindi). It is a choice. If you want to write in whatever language you want, there is no restriction on anybody," he told PTI on Sunday.
Jambusaria also said that he would clarify about the issue in the institute's next monthly newsletter.
Under the sub-title 'Promoting Hindi Language' in the newsletter, Jambusaria mentioned about September 14 being marked as Hindi Diwas and said he believes that there should not be a specific day for Hindi, "rather, Hindi should be part of our life".
"This day reminds us of our heritage and linguistic identity. We should be proudly speaking our Rajbhasha on any occasion. Realising the power of our mother tongue Hindi, ICAI is trying to incorporate more use of Hindi into its work culture.
As part of the professional behaviour, all the employees took the Rajbhasha Pledge to use and promote Hindi in our lives on this day.
Members are also encouraged to adopt Hindi language in their work and interactions with other stakeholders," he said.
According to him, at a time when the whole world is looking at India as a global leader, successor and torch bearer, our language must also be a global beacon.
"With the government's focus on making India, 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', it also focuses on us being 'Aatmanirbhar' with our mother tongue and its nationalistic approach," he said in the newsletter.
Some ICAI members and others have taken to the social media against the remarks, alleging that there is an effort to impose Hindi on the members.
This assumes significance considering that Hindi is not a common language in the southern parts of the country.