NEW DELHI — Opposition members in Rajya Sabha on Thursday accused the
government of imposing Hindi by bringing new bills with titles only in that
language, a charge the treasury benches contested while alleging they were
stuck with a colonial mindset.
Taking part in the discussion on 'The Bharatiya Vayuyan
Vidheyak, 2024' that seeks to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act to boost the
ease of doing business and attract investments in the aviation sector, TMC MP
Sagarika Ghose opposed the bill's name while Kanimozhi NVN Somu of DMK asked
the government to change its name.
"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 further said the Indian Penal Code has been changed
to Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Indian Aircraft Act has now been changed to
Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak.
Expressing similar sentiments, DMK member Kanimozhi NVN
Somu said, "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."
S Niranjan Reddy of YRSCP also asked the government to
reconsider the "nomenclature" of the bill, not because he is opposing
'Hindi imposition' but saying there is a constitutional requirement that since
it has been brought in English and the title cannot be in Hindi.
"We are now going to have the possibility of a
constitutional court, a high court or the Supreme Court striking down this part
saying that this part is unconstitutional because Article 348 (1B) requires
authoritative text to be in English," Reddy said.
He further said Parliament can have the authoritative
text in Hindi also, entirety of the authoritative text can be in Hindi, from
the title to every single word can be in Hindi.
"I am trying to speak for 56 per cent of the Indian
population which does not have Hindi as mother tongue... not to oppose (the
bill)," Reddy said.
Sandosh Kumar P of the CPI demanded that the Title of the
Bill needs to be amended, claiming that it is in contravention of an Article of
the Constitution.
"This Bill is not at all comprehensive. The Title of
the Bill needs to be changed and the concerns of the passengers must be
addressed properly," he said.
Ghanshyam Tiwari of the BJP refuted the charges of 'Hindi
imposition' and pointed out that the bill with title in Hindi has been
presented to the House by a minister who is a Telugu.
He said 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. "This shows their colonial era mindset," he said referring
to the Opposition members' objections to the Hindi titles.
Responding to the objections on the Bill's Title raised
by several members from the Opposition, Bhim Singh of the BJP said: "The
party which can oppose Vande Mataram, why will it not oppose our Vayuyan word.
The party, which when our government puts 'Bharat' instead of India on a board,
can oppose it, why will such a party and its leaders not oppose 'Vayuyan'. I
would like to tell my friends to stop trying to make them understand, they will
not understand. The public is continuously trying to make them understand
through election (results) but they will not understand," Singh said.
Fauzia Khan of NCP-SCP said the Bill does not address
concerns on carbon footprint and suggested that a certain number of seats
should be reserved for women travelling alone on flights.
Haris Beeran of the IUML said the Bill should contain a
provision assigning an Authority with the power of capping airfares when the
need arises.
He flagged the environmental concerns emanating from
carbon emissions and also called for penalty on unruly passengers to be
included in the provisions of the new Bill.
Sulata Deo of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) raised the issues
of difference in rates of flight tickets across various travel booking
platforms and the flight delays which cause inconvenience to air passengers.
Union Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu moved
the bill in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024, which was passed in
the Lok Sabha in the last session of Parliament in August this year, seeks to
remove redundancies and replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act to boost ease of
doing business to attract investments in the aviation sector.
