CHENNAI: The remarks of Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha’s, Secretary of the Ministry of AYUSH, during the online conference violated the Official Languages Act, say language activists.
While speaking at the virtual training programme for the master trainers, Kotecha told participants from Tamil Nadu they could leave if they did not understand Hindi.
He said this after requests from participants to converse in English instead of Hindi. About 37 naturopathy doctors from the State had participated in the conference.
The secretary’s remarks were dubbed as ‘neo-colonial hegemony’ on non-Hindi speaking States by a section of activists. They say he not only discriminated against people, but also violated the Official Languages Act.
The Official Languages Act 1967 and Official Languages Act Rules 1976 stipulate communications from the Central Government to a State categorised in ‘Region C’ shall only be in English. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and few other Southern States have been grouped under the ‘Region C’.
Section 3 of Official Language Act Rules 1976 allows the Centre to use Hindi in communication with the States in Region A and B, but communication with States categorised in ‘Region C’ shall be in English. Kotecha, an Ayurvedic doctor, was a former Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Ayurveda University, Jamnagar. He was appointed as the secretary of AYUSH Ministry in 2017 for three years and got an extension.
Retired IAS officer MG Devasagayam said appointment of non-IAS officers as secretaries has subverted the pan-India character of civil service posts.
“Kotecha’s behaviour is unacceptable and unbecoming of an official. The lateral entrants show scant respect to the Constitution and become subservient to their political masters.” Language activists Aazhi Senthil Nathan said Kotecha’s remarks were remnants of neo-colonial hegemony and discrimination against Tamils. "Any attempt to portray a part of the country as a colony of another part on the basis of language should be viewed as an anti-national activity."
Narayanan Thirupathy, a spokesperson for the State BJP admitted that the secretary’s remarks were unacceptable.
“But Kotecha said 430 persons participated in the conference as against the invited delegates of 350. The official said an inquiry will be conducted.”