Delhi govt hospital bars nurses from speaking in Malayalam; AAP faces political backlash

Issuing a 'language' diktat, Delhi govt-run Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (GIPMER) on Saturday, forbade its nursing personnel from communicating in Malayalam. Aimed at the nursing staff which hails majorly from Kerala, the hospital stated that 'maximum patients and colleagues do not understand Malayalam' and were 'feeling helpless'. The hospital directed the nursing staff to converse in Hindi or English only, warning them of serious consequences otherwise.

Delhi govt hospital forbade nursing staff from talking in Malayalam

“A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language being used for communication in working places in GIPMER. Whereas maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconveniences. So it is directed all nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication. Otherwise, serious action will be taken,” reads the order. Nurses have criticised the move and said they always talk to patients in Hindi.

This move has evoked sharp criticism from several Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh flagging discrimination. 'Malayalam is as Indian as any other Indian language. Stop language discrimination!', tweeted Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, while Jairam Ramesh called it bizarre. Similarly, Shashi Tharoor called it 'unacceptable, crude, offensive and a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens'. 

Objecting to the move, BJP leader Amit Malviya claimed that the Kejriwal government was now targetting Kerala nurses after targeted people from UP and Bihar. Comparing Kejriwal to PM Modi, he said that the Prime Minister had taken his first COVID vaccine jab from a Malayali nurse, fostering unity. The ruling Kerala party - CPI(M) is yet to comment on it.

Incidentally, in January, ahead of the 5 state elections, the Kejriwal-led Delhi government set up Tamil, Marathi and Konkani academies in the national capital. Appreciating his move, DMK Supremo MK Stalin, CM E Palaniswami, and MNM chief Kamal Haasan had congratulated and thanked him. Kejriwal had replied to their tweets in Tamil, emphasizing 'creating a multilingual Delhi'.

The Hindi imposition debate

South Indian politicians have often railed against the BJP accusing it of Hindi imposition, opposing the new Education policy, NEET etc. In the initial draft of the Centre's National Education Policy (NEP), non-Hindi speaking States in India would include the regional language, English and Hindi, while the parts where Hindi is spoken would have English and one of the modern Indian language in addition to Hindi. This evoked severe backlash from Tamil Nadu politicians upon which the policy was rehashed and no mention of the three-language policy was made.