Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Lok Sabha MP John Brittas objected to having questions asked in Parliament on Sunday answered only in Hindi. He claimed the tradition violated statutory language provisions. It also prevents MPs from non-Hindi speaking areas from conducting parliamentary work effectively.
The CPI(M) MP said he had written a letter in Malayalam to Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh in protest and the latter replied in Hindi Questions he raised in Parliament. Parliamentarians from South Indian states have rules and traditions for communicating in English.
“There are rules and traditions for writing letters in English”
CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas raised the issue in a post on his official X account. Apart from this, he also shared a copy of the letter from Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu dated X in Hindi and his reply in Malayalam .
Brittas wrote: “It has become a rule and tradition for the central government to write letters to South Indian state legislators in English. However, this is not happening in recent times. Ravneet Bittu chose to write only in Hindi. I was forced to Answer them in Malayalam!”
What did Brittas’ office say in the statement?
In a statement, Brittas’ office said, “Congress MP Dr John Brittas has sent a protest message in Malayalam to Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries Ravneet Singh Bittu, In protest, the statement said, “This move highlights the problem of only being able to respond in Hindi despite India’s linguistic diversity.”
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It said the move drew attention to the fact that the central government was answering questions in Parliament only in Hindi. John Brittas represents Kerala, which has yet to adopt Hindi as its official language.
