Row over Hindi: CISF to deploy more people who know local language at airports

Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi tweeted that a CISF personnel asked her if she was Indian when the parliamentarian told her that she didn't understand Hindi.
Row over Hindi: CISF to deploy more people who know local language at airports
Row over Hindi: CISF to deploy more people who know local language at airports

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has now decided to relook into its 2007 policy which emphasises on the need to deploy persons with knowledge of the local language and English, following DMK MP Kanimozhi's allegations. The MP had said that a CISF personnel at the Chennai airport questioned her nationality for not understanding Hindi. This has sparked a fresh attempt at sensitising ground staff and emphasis on knowledge of the local language.

"Our endeavour is that all passengers, not just VIPs, should be handled carefully and their sentiments should not be hurt.  We are also ensuring that as far as we can, ground staff who are deployed, know the local language or English. It is not always possible as we are a central government body," says Anil Pandey, DIG and Chief Public Relations. "We can't assure that this can be implemented 100% but we will definitely look into monitoring this requirement," he adds.

The force maintains that its personnel are trained to handle passengers sensitively and that any further gaps in this regard will be fixed.

"We have trained all our people in soft skills. But sometimes there is some aberration or miscommunication. We need to understand that this is an exception not a norm," says special DG Ganapathy of the CISF.  "Sometimes there could be a misunderstanding or miscommunication. So to be more sensitive we are looking to post people with knowledge of the local language or English. This is an ongoing effort," he adds.

The woman CISF official is meanwhile under inquiry and has been given counselling, senior officials tell TNM. However, she herself is from south India and Hindi is not her mother tongue, officials said.

"The official herself is South Indian. She is from Andhra Pradesh and speaks Telugu and Hindi. We are currently inquiring into the incident," a CISF source tells TNM. "As per the officer's version, she spoke to MP Kanimozhi in Hindi. To which the politician said that since she was in Chennai, she should speak in English or Tamil. The CISF personnel has then muttered that Hindi is also an Indian language. We are yet to finish the inquiry but even it was just a mutter like she claims, it can’t be allowed. Our personnel are not supposed to react to any provocation," he adds.

The controversy itself began to brew on Sunday when Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi tweeted that a CISF personnel asked her if she was Indian when the parliamentarian told her that she didn't understand Hindi. Several political leaders from across the country supported Kanimozhi and non-Hindi speakers recounted similar experiences in airports across the country. 

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