In a fresh controversy over Hindi in Tamil Nadu, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that she “comes from a state where learning Hindi is a crime." She also accused the DMK-led TN government of “Hindi enmity." Nirmala, who was speaking in the Lok Sabha on December 4, was reacting to an opposition MP correcting her Hindi.
What started as a correction from the opposition MP of her Hindi soon turned into a heated debate with Nirmala saying, “The environment was not conducive in Tamil Nadu.” She added, “I speak from my lived experience. I was mocked on the streets for even learning Hindi, aside from my school. I was mocked saying, ‘you live in Tamil Nadu and eat the salt of this state, but you want to learn Hindi, that north India basha?’ Learning Hindi and Sanskrit is treated like some other fellow’s language. They use the term vandheri (outsider). They call us vandheri. Why? Is Tamil Nadu not part of India? Is that not part of the political strategy there? Therefore, I have lived the experience of Tamil Nadu imposing on me not to learn Hindi.”
Several opposition MPs could be heard protesting in response.
The standoff began after an opposition MP corrected Nirmala’s Hindi when she was responding to questions on the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Nirmala replied to the MP, saying, “You are a professor. You can correct someone’s English, and you can correct someone’s Hindi, but your political philosophy may not be correct.” It is unclear what incident she was referring to when speaking about an MP “correcting someone’s English.”
She also went on to tell another opposition MP in Hindi, “I come from the kind of state where learning Hindi feels like a crime. I was stopped from learning Hindi. Ask those from the state sitting next to you. Fight with them, not with me. She alleged that INDIA bloc MPs from outside Tamil Nadu “don’t understand the Hindi enmity” of the state government.
“They are opposed to imposing Hindi,” Nirmala continued in English. “Nobody should impose anything on anyone. That’s why the Prime Minister encourages every state to have their own language and pursue higher education in the regional language,” she added.
