Tamil Woman Humiliated For Not Knowing Hindi In Goa Airport; Educate CISF Personnel, Stalin To Shah

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged the Union Home Ministry and the Central Industrial Security Force to educate its personnel on linguistic diversity following a report which claimed that a Tamil woman was humiliated for not knowing the Hindi language.

"The recurring incidents of passengers from non-Hindi speaking states facing harassment by the CISF personnel for not knowing Hindi and being forced to accept the misguided notion that Hindi is the national language of India are deeply concerning," the Tamil Nadu CM said on X, formerly Twitter.

Stalin, who has been critical of the Centre on its alleged Hindi imposition on South Indians, said, "As the passenger Sharmilaa rightly pointed out, this is not just an issue concerning individuals but reflects a systemic insensitivity. It is imperative that the CISF takes immediate steps to sensitise its personnel on how to treat passengers and educates them about the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of our Union. Discrimination has no place in our INDIA; let's ensure equal respect for all languages."

As per a report in DTNext, a CISF personnel humiliated the Tamil woman named Sharmila Rajasekar at the security check-in at Dabolim Airport in Goa.

Talking about the incident, the 34-year-old engineer from Chennai told DT Next that she was in the process of placing her bags for security check-in for her 8:30 pm flight to Chennai. At that moment, a CISF officer in the women's queue instructed her to use another tray in Hindi, a language the passenger did not understand.

"I told them I do not know Hindi, for which the security team mocked at me and asked me where I am from. When I replied, I am from Tamil Nadu, the cop asked if Tamil Nadu is in India and told me that Hindi is the national language and I must learn," Sharmilaa said.

However, the Tamil woman pointed out that Hindi is not a national language. She said, "I was with my three-year-old daughter and I went ahead with the security check, took my phone, googled and showed the lady officer that Hindi is only the official language," Sharmilaa said and added, "The way I was treated was very inhuman and culturally insensitive."

However, she registered an oral complaint over the CISF personnel's behaviour and the officer apologised. Sharmila has also filed a complaint with the airport grievance officer on the incident.