CISF officer at city airport asked if I was Indian for not knowing Hindi: Kanimozhi

The issue came to light after Kanimozhi tweeted, “Today at the airport, a CISF officer asked me if I am an Indian when I asked her to speak to me in Tamil or English as I did not know Hindi. I would like to know from when being Indian is equal to knowing Hindi.”

The incident highlighted with the hashtag #hindiimposition created a Twitter storm with netizens, including several MPs and ex-ministers, expressing outrage at the behaviour of the CISF official. Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh responded to her tweet saying, “In complete solidarity with you.” Congress MP from Sivaganga Karti P Chidambaram tweeted, “Outright ridiculous. Highly condemnable. A linguistic test, what next? @CISFHQrs should respond!”

Joining his Parliament colleague, Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore tweeted, “Condemnable! The way the ruling establishment pushes One Nation, One Language, One culture, it will eliminate many for a few! Hope @CISFHQrs acts on this!” Meanwhile, the CISF responded by promising an inquiry into the issue on its official Twitter handle. “Warm greetings from @CISFHQrs. We sincerely acknowledge your unpleasant experience.

Kindly DM journey details; name of airport, location, date, and time of the incident for appropriate action in the matter,” CISF headquarters tweeted, adding, “The CISF has ordered an inquiry into the matter. It is not the policy of CISF to insist upon any particular language.”

A source close to Kanimozhi said that she boarded the 1.55pm flight to the national capital to attend the Parliamentary standing committee meeting on chemicals and fertilizers.

The source also added that CISF officials in the city and the national headquarters have expressed their regrets over the incident. Kanimozhi acknowledged the swift action on the part of CISF by later tweeting, “Thank you for the immediate response and assurance to take action.”