Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu with newly elected and nominated members of Rajya Sabha in New Delhi Saturday. (PTI Photo)
IS HINDI the “rashtra bhasha” (national language), or just one among 22 other languages recognised by the Constitution? All Constituent Assembly debates on the issue were clearly not enough for the question to be settled for first-time Rajya Sabha MPs on Saturday. The first of a two-day orientation programme for first-time MPs of the Upper House ended on a stormy note on Saturday over the demand of BJP MP Harnath Singh Yadav that Parliamentary papers and proceedings should “primarily” be in Hindi. There may be translations if required, he maintained.
The statement elicited immediate cries of protest from others, especially MPs from southern states, who asked whether the RS secretariat would comply if MPs in accordance with the Constitutional position demand documents in all 22 languages. The proceedings were aired live on Rajya Sabha TV for the first time.
The orientation was aimed at acclimatising MPs with Parliamentary procedures and officials who they need to contact to sort out issues. Just as RS Secretary-General Desh Deepak Verma was winding up proceedings, Yadav intervened, saying: “Hindi is our rashtra bhasha (national language), our raj bhasha (official language). Nobody has any problem understanding it, so Parliamentary documents should be primarily in Hindi. If required, they may be translated.”
This triggered loud protests, and allegations of Hindi imposition. Dr L Hanumanthaiah of the Congress said Hindi should not be imposed, and if that is done, all 22 languages listed should be treated equally in Parliament and documents given in all of them. Binoy Viswam of the CPI said, “We like Hindi but it should not be imposed.”
It was left to Manoj Jha of the RJD to call truce and remind the members that the matter had been discussed threadbare in the Constituent Assembly, and a day’s orientation should not end on such a tumultuous note. The country, he said, had already paid heavily in the 1970s over the language issue.
While the issue came to a close soon after, the altercation has left many within the RS Secretariat questioning the need for the live telecast, given that identifying individual officials in the Secretariat, and what they deal with, is not a matter of usable public information. At the event, Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu was all praise for Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri for attending the orientation programme for new members.
Naidu said that during the last one year Puri has piloted a few Bills and responded to several questions in both Houses, but was still attending the session as a new MP. D Raja of the CPI also came in for praise from Naidu for making good use of the floor. Raja is worthy of emulation by others, he observed and urged MPs to keep politics outside the House.
“Mobocracy should not be allowed to derail deliberative Parliamentary democracy. A group of MPs rushing into the Well of the House and disrupting functioning of the House subverts democracy,” Naidu said. “We need to know (how) to respect each other, irrespective of being in majority or minority, and should have healthy respect for mandate of the people.”