On recommendation of two south Indian leaders — Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu and its former Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien — the Upper house is going to screen a series of popular Hindi films to acquaint non-Hindi speaking members and staff with the language.
In an invitation issued by the Rajya Sabha secretariat signed by additional director and chairman of the Rajya Sabha secretariat Employees’ Recreation Club J.M. Bhardwaj says, “The honourable Chairman Rajya Sabha has desired to show good Hindi movies to promote Hindi language among non-Hindi speaking members and staff.”
The first movie to be screened, incidentally, features former Rajya Sabha member Nargis: Mother India . It will be shown on February 1.
According to sources, the suggestion first came from Prof. Kurien when he was the Deputy Chairman. Mr. Naidu, sources said, has requested that popular films from South Indian and other languages should also be screened.
“Films are an effective means of promoting knowledge and familiarity with other languages and this initiative is aimed at that,” a senior Rajya Sabha official said.
The members who have received the invitation, however, have a differing view. “Why only Hindi? We are all more or less familiar with Hindi. But are others familiar with, say, Tamil or Malayalam? Other languages should also be promoted,” CPI MP D Raja said.
Mr. Naidu, who started out as an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad activist, is well conversant in Hindi. He had recently started an initiative to hire translators in all major Indian languages in Rajya Sabha to allow members from all states to deliver speeches in their respective languages. He is often heard speaking in Tamil and Telugu during Parliament proceedings.
