Jayalalithaa urges government to modify Hindi order

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct the home ministry to modify its directive on Hindi to ensure the use of English in social media.

In a letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa referred to a home ministry order that officials should now use only Hindi or Hindi and English with the former getting prominence on social media like Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

"This makes the use of Hindi mandatory and English optional," she said.

Citing the Official Languages Rules 1976, Jayalalithaa said communications from a central government office to a state or to any office or person in such states in "Region C" shall be in English.

"Social media by their very nature are not only accessible to all persons on the internet but meant to be a means of communication to persons living in all parts of India including those in Region C," she said.

Region A refers to Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as well as Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Region B refers to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab as well as Chandigarh, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Region C refers to all other states.

According to Jayalalithaa, people located in Region C will not have access to public information if it is not in English.

"This move would therefore be against the letter and spirit of the Official Languages Act. As you are aware, this is a highly sensitive issue and causes disquiet to the people of Tamil Nadu who are very proud of and passionate about their linguistic heritage," she said.

Referring to a memorandum presented by her to Modi this month, she said: "I had also raised the long pending demand of the people of Tamil Nadu to make the ancient Tamil language an official language of India.

"I had also urged that all the languages included in the VIII Schedule of the constitution be declared as official languages of India.

"If this request is fulfilled, the use of all official languages on social media can be encouraged."