GST Assistant Commissioner in Chennai alleges Hindi imposition

An Assistant Commissioner working with the GST and Central Excise in Chennai on Monday alleged “Hindi imposition” on him and his colleagues by complaining that they were posted to a section tasked with promoting Hindi within the office despite them not knowing the language.

P Balamurugan, who works with the Office of the Commissioner of GST and Central Excise, Chennai Outer Commissionerate, said he was posted to the Capacity Building and Hindi cell in November 2019 despite his “disinterest.” Besides him, the section has one inspector who does not know Hindi, and an inspector and an assistant from a Hindi-speaking state, he added.

While Balamurugan confirmed writing the letter, there was no official word from the Commissioner of GST and Central Excise on the issue. The officer is due to retire from service in 2024 and there was little clarity on what prompted him to write the letter almost a year after he was appointed to the post. The original letter in English and a Tamil translation of the same was released to the media.

“The documents and files in the Hindi department should mandatorily be in Hindi. At least 50 percent of the documents should be in Hindi. Inspector Sugumar and I do not know to write or read Hindi. When inspector Ranjan Daiya or the assistant prepare documents in Hindi, we would just sign without reading as we do not know the language,” Balamurugan said in a letter to the Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.

After Balamurugan’s letter went viral, DMK President M K Stalin latched on to it seeking to know whether the BJP government was for the whole of India or only for those who speak Hindi. The letter by the officer comes close on the heels of alleged Hindi imposition taking the center stage in Tamil Nadu.

Balamurugan noted that Daiya has now been transferred to a different department and inspector Vijayakumar has been brought as a replacement to him. Since Vijayakumar also does not know to read and write Hindi, none of the officials in the department now know the language.

“We cannot write letters or prepare files in Hindi as none of us know Hindi. A deputy commissioner whose mother tongue is Hindi is posted in the Commissioner’s office. Without appointing him to the post in the department, making me in charge of the Hindi section amounts to belittling my emotions towards the Tamil language,” he said in the three-page letter.

“I consider my appointment to the Hindi cell without me knowing the language as an act of imposition of the language. Hindi imposition is not just asking people to study in the language but also forcing someone to propagate Hindi without his interest,” Balamurugan said, adding that only Hindi-speaking people should be appointed to the Hindi cell.