A group of women MLAs from Kerala walked out of an NCW workshop in Faridabad, alleging that most sessions were held in Hindi. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took a swipe at the Centre, saying it “misdefines cooperative federalism”.
A group of women legislators from Kerala walked out of a National Commission for Women (NCW) workshop on Tuesday, saying the sessions were conducted largely in Hindi, and that it was difficult for participants from non-Hindi-speaking states to follow the proceedings.
The two-day capacity-building workshop for women legislators was organised by the NCW at Surajkund in Faridabad and inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday.
The Kerala delegation included Deputy Speaker Shanimol Osman, Ministers Bindhu Krishna and K A Thulasi, and MLAs KK Rema, Fathima Thahliya, Vidya Balakrishnan and Usha Vijayan.
The legislators, however, clarified that their objection was not to the Hindi language, but to the lack of arrangements to include participants from non-Hindi-speaking states.
“We are from South India. We don’t understand Hindi to that extent, so we requested that they mix it with English so we could understand. But nobody heard,” Krishna said.
She said they had attended the workshop expecting practical guidance and ideas on legislation and legislative proceedings. Instead, she alleged that the sessions were conducted in Hindi, with little scope for interaction or discussion.
“We expected more information, ideas and guidelines on legislation — how we make laws and how we implement them,” Krishna said.
She said that although the posters and other materials were in English, the sessions were conducted in Hindi. “We requested that English also be used so they could follow the discussions, but their request was not accepted,” she alleged.
Krishna said the women MLAs had expected to gain more from the two-day workshop, but the discussions were mostly about filing police complaints and calling ambulances.
Other legislators alleged that an open-house discussion listed in the workshop agenda was not held. MLA Thahliya said the programme largely proceeded through a series of classes, leaving little room for interaction.
The MLAs further claimed that they were not given an opportunity to introduce themselves or interact with other women representatives attending the national-level programme.
“The problem is not the Hindi language. Rather, the commission did not take steps to include all MLAs at the national level,” one of the legislators said.
They also alleged that an MLA from a Hindi-speaking state told them that she could teach them Hindi if they did not know the language. The women MLAs further claimed that some participants shouted that Hindi was the national language and that discussions would be held only in Hindi.
Slogans including “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” were subsequently raised in the hall, they alleged. The women MLAs walked out shortly before the session and the concluding ceremony.
There was no immediate response from the NCW to the allegations.