In what has become the next episode of the controversy over the language row, the Secretary of the Central government had stirred outrage after he asked the doctors from Tamil Nadu to leave the virtual session if they don't know Hindi by citing that he can't speak English. 

According to the reports, the Union Ministry of Ayush had conducted an online conference for the doctors, yoga, and naturopathy practitioners across the country and the virtual conference had held for three days from August 18 to August 20 in which around 400 doctors had participated including 37 doctors from Tamil Nadu. The conference was organized by the Ayush Ministry and Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga for Master Trainers of Yoga the participants said each day, they had six sessions to cover various aspects of Yoga and Naturopathy. 

During the sessions, Union Ayush Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha had apparently said he would not speak in English and publicly called those who don't know Hindi to leave the session. Speaking about the experience, a doctor, who took part in the conference, said at least four sessions were conducted in Hindi from the very first day. Though some speakers had translated initially, the conclusion was always done in Hindi which was difficult to understand. 

The doctors from Tamil Nadu had claimed that the secretary's affronting behavior by not earing their concerns of language was in the line of the continuation of a discriminatory and badly-organized event. One of the participants from Tamil Nadu said that the doctors from Kerala, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh had made a similar request as they too couldn't understand Hindi. However, the secretary didn't consider their concerns.

ஹிந்தி தெரியவில்லை என்றால் கூட்டத்தில் இருந்து விலகுங்கள்: மத்திய ஆயுஷ் அமைச்சகத்தின் அதிகாரிகள் தமிழக நியூரோபதி & யோகா மருத்துவர்களிடம் கூறியுள்ளனர்

கடந்த 3நாட்களாக அமைச்சகத்தின் சார்பில் பயிற்சி கூட்டம் நடத்தப்பட்டதில் இவ்வாறு கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது pic.twitter.com/CGtBn15XQS

— Niranjan kumar (@niranjan2428) August 21, 2020

The large group of participants had said that the instruction must be in Hindi by claiming that their language is the 'Rashtra Bhasha'. Another participant said that the secretary has been disrespectful and he issued a warning on the final day and said, "If they don't understand Hindi, we should make them understand" and he went on to say that he would identify the problem creators and forward the matter to the Center and state governments to take action against them. 

In his virtual address, secretary Kotecha had congratulated people for attending the event. Speaking about the language row, he said they (non-Hindi participants) can leave and cited that he can't speak English very well and pressed that he will speak in Hindi. His staunch statement has come after the doctors from Tamil Nadu sent messages virtually through chat requesting him to speak in English. 

One of the doctors said being a national conference, it should be in a language that everyone understands and he also had sent a message to the secretary, and to his shock, the secretary went on speaking Hindi and told the non-Hindi participants to leave the conference. The participants alleged that what happened was unacceptable and these weren't the sessions that they expected. 

Following the affront, the doctors had moved their formal letter of complaint to the Ayush Ministry against the discrimination they faced for not knowing Hindi. Along with that, the state government had also asked the doctors to disclose their feedback about the conference. The latest row of language discrimination has come days after Tamil Nadu went outraged against the Hindi supremacy on what DMK MP Kanimozhi faced at the Chennai airport where she faced a question of nationality for not knowing Hindi. 

மத்திய அரசே, "இந்தி தெரியாதவர்கள் வெளியேறுங்கள்" என்று சொன்ன, மத்திய ஆயுஷ் அமைச்சகச் செயலாளர், இந்தி வெறியர், ராஜேஷ் கொடேச்சாவைப் பதவியை விட்டு விலக்கு! இந்தி பேசாத இந்திய மக்களை அவமதிக்க எவருக்கும் உரிமையில்லை. #Ayush #we_protest_hindi

— SubaVeerapandian (@Suba_Vee) August 22, 2020

The Center's recently proposed National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has also been strongly criticized by the Tamil Nadu political parties for rolling out the three-language formula favoring Hindi over the state's official language and the recent controversy of language discrimination had erupted strong resentments from Tamil Nadu policial leaders who demand to remove the Ayush secretary from the post for his disrespectful actions.