What’s in a name? Well, there is enough to 'sour' the federal spirit of the country if a directive of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an indication.
The central agency is in the midst of a controversy as thick as curd. The FSSAI instructed the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which owns the ‘Nandini’ brand of dairy products and the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, which manufactures the ‘Aavin’ brand of dairy products, to use the Hindi term ‘Dahi’ in its curd sachets.
It has said the Kannada equivalent ‘Mosuru’ and Tamil equivalent of ‘Tair’ or ‘Tayir’ can be used in brackets on the sachets.
This evoked a sharp reaction in both states. The directive is nothing but the unabashed imposition of Hindi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said on Wednesday.
“The unabashed insistences of #HindiImposition have come to the extent of directing us to label even a curd packet in Hindi, relegatingTamil and Kannada in our own states. Such brazen disregard to our mother tongues will make sure those responsible are banished from South forever,” he tweeted.
