A ticket confirmation message in Hindi from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to a Tamil Nadu passenger has fuelled the Hindi imposition debate. DMK and PMK leaders condemned the move by IRCTC for sending the message in Hindi and demanded the Union government to give up the move.
Muthulakshmi had booked train tickets for Madurai to Chennai on October 2 when she received the alerts in Hindi. Muthulakshmi, however, does not know Hindi or English, a report stated quoting her.
Following the reports, the DMK and the PMK accused IRCTC of imposing Hindi in Tamil Nadu. Thoothukudi MP and DMK women’s wing president Kanimozhi condemned IRCTC for sending messages in Hindi. "They are trying to impose Hindi in all ways. They are not even understanding the difficulties of the people. If the confirmation ticket comes in Hindi the passengers cannot even read in Hindi. They do not even have the least compassion and are instead trying to impose Hindi. This will lead to very bad consequences," she said.
Taking to Twitter, DMK MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian said, “After booking the train ticket, the confirmation message for the ticket comes in Hindi. Many people in many states do not know Hindi.” She also shared a purported screenshot of the message in Hindi. “The government of India should stop the cruel practice of imposing Hindi in all platforms. They should give importance to the state languages,” she said.
The controversy has also led to the demand of having Tamil as an option in Indian Railways.
DMK MP TR Baalu wrote to Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal stating people will not understand if a confirmation message is sent in Hindi so the message should be sent to passengers in English.
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran also took to Twitter and said, "Why is Hindi being repeatedly thrusted upon the people of Tamil Nadu by Railway Ministry? How does it make any sense to send notifications and communications to passengers in a language alien to us?"
The ally of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, Pattali Makkal Katchi has also flagged the imposition of Hindi. The founder of PMK, Ramadoss said, “The confirmation message for booking tickets in Railways is sent in Hindi for the past two days. Sending message in Hindi to people who do not know Hindi is a form of Hindi imposition.”
“The Railways should cancel the move. The Officials Language Act, 1976 will not be applicable to Tamil Nadu. Hence all the official information should be send to people of Tamil Nadu in English. It is highly condemnable that the message was sent in Hindi,” he added.