A day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin came down heavily on a circular issued by the New India Assurance, titled ‘Check Points for Hindi Implementation’, the company has apologised for inadvertently hurting any sentiments.
“We believe in promoting a diverse and peaceful workplace that values local languages and cultures. We are completely aligned with and respectful of the rich cultural legacy and linguistic variety across the length and breadth of our magnificent country. If, inadvertently, we have hurt any sentiments, We sincerely apologize for the same,” the New India Assurance company said in a post on Twitter on June 13.
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Citing a circular dated April 3, Mr. Stalin had asked the company to “apologise for the disrespect shown towards non-Hindi speakers of India and non-Hindi speaking employees of New India Assurance.”
“Tamil Nadu and DMK will do everything under our power to #StopHindiImposition, as we have always strived in our history,” he had said, adding that the government will remove the “undeserving special status that Hindi enjoys everywhere in the Union Government, like Railways, Postal Department, Banking and Parliament.”
“We pay our taxes, contribute to the progress and believe in our rich heritage and this nation’s diversity. Our languages deserve to be treated equally. We will resist any attempt to replace Tamil with Hindi in our land,” Mr. Stalin had said.
The circular, which was also posted on Twitter by Mr. Stalin, comprised of suggestions such as: ‘Encourage all the Employees to do more work in Hindi on the 14th of every month’, ‘Records kept in the office should be maintained in Hindi. All displayed Name Plates should be in Hindi/bilingual’, ‘Hindi word/Thoughts/Technical Insurance Terminology should be written on white board in each office so that employees get acquainted with terminology in Hindi,’ and so on.
