Amid TN vs Centre ‘language war’, Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu says ‘let’s learn Hindi’
He added that Tamil Nadu would be “smart” to learn Hindi and told the people of the state to ignore the politics
Amid Tamil Nadu's refusal to implement Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP) accusing the Narendra Modi government of it, among other things, being an attempt to impose in Hindi, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has urged the state’s workforce to learn Hindi, which has sparked a debate online.
Also read: Why the 'language war' gives DMK the edge in next year's elections
Recently, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said he would not agree to implement NEP even if the Centre offered to provide Rs 10,000 crore in funds to the state.
What Vembu said
“We are not opposed to any language but will remain firm in opposing its imposition. We are not opposing the NEP only for the attempt to thrust Hindi but for several other reasons as well. The NEP is regressive. It will drive students away from schools,” Stalin claimed.
Also read: Udhayanidhi vs Annamalai: TN’s NEP battle turns into a showdown
Joining the language debate and batting for learning Hindi was Zoho’s Vembu who said the workforce in Tamil Nadu can serve customers in Mumbai, Delhi, and Gujarat better by learning Hindi. Not knowing Hindi is a “serious handicap for us in Tamil Nadu,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“As Zoho grows rapidly in India, we have rural engineers in Tamil Nadu working closely with customers in Mumbai and Delhi - so much of our business is driven form these cities and from Gujarat. Rural jobs in Tamil Nadu depend on us serving those customers well. Not knowing Hindi is often a serious handicap for us in Tamil Nadu,” Vembu wrote to his 2.96 lakh-plus followers on X.
'Smart for us to learn Hindi'
He added that Tamil Nadu would be “smart” to learn Hindi and told the people of the state to ignore the politics. “It is smart for us to learn Hindi. I have learned to read Hindi haltingly in the last 5 years and I can now understand about 20% of what is spoken. As India is a fast growing economy, engineers and entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu will be smart to learn Hindi. Ignore the politics, let us learn the language!”
He ended his X post by writing in Tamil – “Let's learn Hindi!”, and in Hindi, “Come, let’s learn Hindi.”
Later, on the same social media platform, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Pudukkottai MM Abdulla questioned Vembu by reposting his old post from Saudi Arabia as to how he could expand business in the Gulf nation without learning Arabic.
“Dear Mr. Vembu sir, congratulations on expanding your business in Saudi Arabia! It’s impressive how you achieved this WITHOUT LEARNING ARABIC. So, why are you insisting that Tamils must learn Hindi? (sic),” Abdullah wrote.
'Political agenda'
To this, Vembu replied, “Today our engineers in villages in Tamil Nadu are working closely with customers in the North implementing Zoho products. This part of our business is growing rapidly.
“In a similar way we also have engineers working with Middle East based companies and our counterparts in those companies are very often Indians too (Malayalees and Tamils often and also Hindi/Urdu speakers). Hindi/Urdu are actually extremely helpful in the Middle East too, apart from Malayalam and Tamil. We also have Arabic speakers in Chennai to work with those Middle East customers who need Arabic support.
“I am sure you know all this Sir but I am sorry your politics forces you not to see the truth. We invite you to visit our rural office near your constituency and check this out yourself.”
Further, the exchange of posts saw Abdullah asking Vembu to say, “If you truly care about Tamil Nadu, advocate for better technology education, not linguistic imposition.”
Vembu replied this was a “political agenda” as other X users also joined in the debate sharing their views on the ongoing language row.