Thirty-seven naturopathy doctors from Tamil Nadu have alleged that AYUSH Ministry secretary Rajesh Kotecha asked them to leave a virtual training programme for not knowing Hindi. The doctors told The Daily Guardian that on the third day of the programme, they requested Kotecha to speak in English as they didn’t understand Hindi. In his reply, the AYUSH secretary asked the doctors representing their state to leave for not understanding Hindi. The doctors were participating in a virtual training camp which was held by the Ministry of AYUSH for three days from 18 August.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the doctors also said that they faced difficulties in understanding what was being said during the training programme. They also informed that they had sent a mail on the first day of the programme that they had troubles in understanding the language. Talking about Kotecha’s behaviour, they said that the secretary was talking in Hindi and English both but stopped speaking in English, and said he was not comfortable with the language and continued in Hindi even after their request.
Meanwhile, in a 36-second video, Kotecha was clearly heard saying, “This is happening for the past two days. If you cannot understand you can leave, I don’t speak English very well and I’ll speak in Hindi.” The doctors have registered their protest before their department’s joint director in Tamil Nadu and have explained to him about what has happened during the training programme. Also, several doctors who participated in the training programme alleged that initially the programme was designed only for certified yoga practitioners and naturopathy doctors but it was attended by various yoga gurus who practiced yoga without any recognised certification.
A few weeks earlier, a huge uproar was witnessed in Tamil Nadu when DMK leader Kanimozhi was questioned about her nationality by a CRPF personnel for saying she didn’t understand Hindi.