For a while now, Tamil nationalist parties have been peddling the narrative that the Centre is shortchanging the young, educated Tamil population by resorting to back-door tactics to recruit candidates from the Hindi belt for Central and State government jobs in Tamil Nadu.
Stating that the 2011 migrant data need not paint a true picture of what is currently happening in Tamil Nadu, Tamilaga Valvurimai Katchi leader T. Velmurugan, who has earlier accused the Railway Recruitment Board of giving preferential treatment to North Indians, said that the Centre’s policy decisions since 2011 have consistently gone against local youth.
“Between 2009 and 2014, Central government jobs in Tamil Nadu used to be filled up with candidates from the various zones within Tamil Nadu. This was true for a range of Central government jobs. But now, anyone from anywhere in the country can apply. This lends itself to manipulations against Tamil candidates due to the hegemony of Hindi speakers in the bureaucracy,” he said.
He also claimed that the recruitment examinations, which were conducted by private companies, and the process of getting domicile certificates, were riddled with corruption, making the whole process vulnerable to manipulation.
Mr. Velmurugan further claimed that the State government amended a rule in 2017 to allow candidates from other states to apply for State government jobs in local administration without knowing Tamil. “What we are saying is that either mother tongue needs to be Tamil or the candidate should be proficient in Tamil — to read, write and speak — to be able to serve the people here,” he explained.
Tamil optional
He claimed that in TNPSC it was now possible for even a person with no knowledge of Tamil to apply for jobs in the State government. It was enough if they learnt Tamil in two years. “How can a Village Administrative Officer serve the people without knowing Tamil?” he asked.
These are not merely the demands of smaller Tamil nationalist parties. On Friday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M.K. Stalin condemned the Railway Board’s direction to Southern Railway to the effect that the General Departmental Competitive Examination need not be held in regional languages. He charged Central government institutions with disrespecting the spirit of federalism.
A conspiracy?
“This seems to be a conspiracy to systematically reduce the number of regional language speakers in the Railways and give preferential treatment to Hindi speakers,” he said.
Mr. Stalin also underlined that the preference for Hindi speakers was obvious after the Board decided not to award marks for candidates who write answers in regional languages after preferring ‘English’. “But, those who choose ‘Hindi’ as their preferential language are allowed to write their answers in other languages,” he pointed out.
Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran also condemned the direction and demanded that it be rolled back.
