CPI(M) MP John Brittas objects to ‘Hindi-only’ replies from ministers

New Delhi: CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas on Sunday objected to “Hindi-only” replies from the Union Government to MPs in response to parliamentary interventions, alleging it contravenes statutory language provisions and hinders members from non-Hindi-speaking regions in effectively performing their parliamentary work.

“As a gesture of protest”, Brittas said he wrote a letter in Malayalam to Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh who had responded to his queries raised in Parliament in Hindi as against the “norm and precedent” of using English for communication with MPs from southern states.

The CP(M) MP took to X to flag the issue and also shared the minister’s letters in Hindi and his reply to them in Malayalam on the microblogging site.

“It has been a norm and precedent that letters addressed from Union Govt to south MPs are written in English. Lately, however, that’s not the case, and Ravneet Bittu makes it a point to write exclusively in Hindi. Am compelled to reply him in Malayalam!” Brittas posted. In a statement, Brittas’ office said, “In a compelling gesture of protest, Dr. John Brittas MP has conveyed his response in Malayalam to Shri Ravneet Singh, Minister of State of Railways & Food Processing Industries. “This action draws attention to the ongoing issue of receiving Hindi-only replies from the Union Govt in response to parliamentary interventions, despite the linguistic diversity of India and John Brittas’s representation of Kerala, a state which hasn’t adopted Hindi as an official language.”