Opposition members in the Parliament on Thursday accused the government of imposing Hindi by presenting bills with titles only in the language, a charge that was swiftly contested by the ruling benches.
The bill in question, ‘The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024,’ which seeks to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, was presented as part of a broader initiative to streamline business regulations and attract investment to the aviation sector.
Opposition MPs, including TMC’s Sagarika Ghose, strongly opposed the bill’s title, claiming it reflected the government’s agenda to ‘Hindify’ legal frameworks.
“Why do so many laws have Hindi names? This is imposition of Hindi. The mandate of the people in 2024 was for diversity, dividend, and the federal principle, but the government is persisting in the ‘Hindification’ of laws. This is Hindi imposition,” Ghose asserted.
She also noted that several laws, such as the Indian Penal Code, had been renamed in Hindi, with the latest example being the Aircraft Act’s transformation into the ‘Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak.’
Kanimozhi NVN Somu of the DMK also joined in, urging the government to reconsider the bill’s title.
“I would like the Union government to change the title of the bill to Aircraft Bill 2024. Don’t try to impose Hindi on people who don’t speak Hindi. I request the Union government to refrain from naming bills in Hindi and Sanskrit,” she said.
S. Niranjan Reddy from the YSRCP raised a constitutional concern, arguing that the bill’s title in Hindi may violate Article 348 (1B), which mandates that authoritative texts of laws be in English.
"I am trying to speak for 56 per cent of the Indian population which does not have Hindi as its mother tongue... not to oppose the bill," he stated.
In contrast, Ghanshyam Tiwari of the BJP dismissed the allegations of Hindi imposition, arguing that the bill had been presented by a minister who was a Telugu speaker.
"This shows their colonial era mindset," Tiwari said, accusing the opposition of failing to understand the constitutional provision.
“The step has been taken up as per constitutional provision, and the name coming in any language is not an effort to impose any language,” he added.
The bill was moved in the Rajya Sabha by Union Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu earlier this week.
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