Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while replying to the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, on Tuesday in the Parliament recalled incidents when she was mocked on the streets of Tamil Nadu. Expressed anguish over not being allowed to learn Hindi in Tamil Nadu as a student, she said her Hindi is not so good because her state did not allow her to learn the language. The Union Minister said she was mocked for learning Hindi in Tamil Nadu. The statement comes after some Opposition members tried to corner her over her Hindi.
While speaking in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, "I speak from my lived experience in Tamil Nadu when even going to learn Hindi, aside from my school, I was mocked on the streets. And I was mocked saying - oh you want to learn Hindi. You live in Tamil Nadu...and you want to learn Hindi, that North India's bhasha (language). These are the words ringing in my ears...Learning Hindi and Sanskrit are perceived as learning some other foreign language and words that they used is people who have come over to this land. Is Tamil Nadu not part of India. So what's wrong in my learning Hindi."
I was called 'vandheri': Sitharaman
Sitharaman, who was born in Madurai, lamented that she was called 'vandheri' (a Tamil word loosely meaning outsider in a negative sense).
"They called us vandheri. Is it not part of a political strategy there?" she recalled. The minister said that she was denied her "fundamental right" to learn the language of her choice.
"I have lived experience of Tamil Nadu imposing on me not to learn Hindi. Is that not imposition on me?," Sitharaman asked.
"It's alright to say we don't want imposition of Hindi. We don't want to impose Hindi but why did they impose on me not to learn Hindi? I want to ask this," Sitharaman said in the Lower House.
The minister also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the Tamil language to the UN.
"Tell me one prime minister who has taken Tamil to the UN...Narendra Modi. Tell me one PM who quotes Tamil repeatedly...because he respects that language. Tell me one PM with whom DMK has been in alliance with, where the PM quoted Tamil. That is the respect we give to the sentiments of all of us Tamils," she said.
(With PTI inputs)
