A Chennai woman returning home from Goa after a family vacation was allegedly mocked by a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official at Dabolim airport for not understanding Hindi. The incident sparked a controversy in Tamil Nadu prompting Chief Minister M K Stalin to weigh in, saying the issue “reflects a systemic insensitivity”.
According to a report published in English daily DTNext on Thursday, the woman identified as Sharmila Rajasekar, an engineer by profession, had kept her bag for security check-in for her 8.30 pm flight to Chennai when a CISF personnel in the queue for women asked her to take her tray in Hindi. When Rajasekar did not understand what the official was saying, the lady officer learnt where she hailed from and allegedly mocked her saying Tamil Nadu is in India and she should learn Hindi as it was the national language.
The recurring incidents of passengers from non-Hindi speaking states facing harassment by #CISF personnel for not knowing Hindi and being forced to accept the misguided notion that Hindi is the national language of India are deeply concerning. As the passenger Sharmilaa rightly…
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) December 14, 2023
The report quoted Rajasekar, who had been standing in the queue alongside her three-year-old daughter, saying that even after informing the official that Hindi was only the official language, she was asked to Google it to prove it. Before boarding the flight, Rajasekar reportedly lodged an oral complaint with the CISF supervisor at the airport, who apologised for his staff’s behaviour, and also sent an email to the airport grievance officer.
Reacting to the incident, CM Stalin said that the recurring incidents of passengers from non-Hindi-speaking states facing harassment by CISF personnel for not knowing Hindi and being forced to accept the “misguided notion” that Hindi is the national language of India were deeply concerning.
“As the passenger Sharmilaa rightly pointed out, this is not just an issue concerning individuals but reflects a systemic insensitivity. It is imperative that @CISFHQrs takes immediate steps to sensitise its personnel on how to treat passengers and educates them about the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of our Union. Discrimination has no place in our #INDIA, let’s ensure equal respect for all languages,” Stalin wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
In 2020, DMK MP Kanimozhi claimed that at Chennai airport, a CISF officer asked her if she was an Indian after she asked the officer to speak in either Tamil or English as she did not know Hindi. “I would like to know from when being Indian is equal to knowing Hindi,” she wrote then. The incident sparked outrage and the CISF in a statement sought details from her and said it had ordered a probe into the matter.
