A fresh row has erupted in Parliament, with several Rajya Sabha MPs, especially from South India, objecting to the Hindi or Sanskrit titles of some of the recent bills.
This was seen in Thursday’s discussion in the upper house Indian Air Force 2024 – A bill to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act.
Raising a question, YSR Congress Party MP Niranjan Reddy said there was a “constitutional requirement” for bills written in English to have English titles. Reddy cited Article 348(1B) to substantiate his claim and said that “the authoritative text is required to be in English”. The constitutional provisions state that “the official texts of all bills or amendments introduced in either House of Parliament shall be in the English language”.
After this, CPI(M) MP John Britas also raised the issue and quoted the article.
“We think this (giving Hindi titles to bills) is a clear violation of Article 348 which clearly states that bills should have English titles,” Brittas told The Indian Express.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sagarika Ghosh also referred to Article 348 and objected to the name of the bill. Ghosh also talked about “Hindi Lagu” in the House. ‘The government is adamant about stopping the law. This is Hindi imposition,’ she said.
Asked why the TMC was raising objections to the names of the bills, Ghosh told The Indian Express, “The fact is that the 2024 mandate did not give the BJP a majority. But regional parties like Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and DMK won in our state. The election verdict was in favor of diversity and federal principles. They (NDA) cannot proceed by imposing one language and one culture in all the states.”
The DMK, which has a history of opposing “Hindi Lagu”, also raised the issue in the House.
DMK MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu told The Indian Express that “whatever comes under the Constitution” should be in English.
She said, ‘But the current government is bringing a new bill called Hindi or Sanskrit. What about people who do not understand or speak these languages?”
However, BJP MP Konda Visveswara Reddy, who represents Chevella in Telangana, said the opposition to Hindi was “part of a culture of hating other languages”.
“DMK and other parties should stop this… We should be proud of our own language and culture, but hating Hindi is not the way forward,” he said.
When the new Criminal Code – Indian Judicial Code (BNS) 2023, Indian Civil Protection Code (BNSS) 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhinium (BSA) 2023 – were being debated in Parliament, even then some MPs raised similar objections.
The then Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs questioned the Hindi names of the three Criminal Codes as violating Article 348 of the Constitution by members of the committee.
However, the Home Ministry rejected these objections at that time. “Article 348 of the Constitution of India inter alia states that the official texts of all Acts passed by the Parliament shall be in the English language. As the text of the proposed law is in English, it does not violate Article 348 of the Constitution of India,” the MHA said.