Sansad TV’s compulsory Hindi voiceovers for non-Hindi speeches draw scathing criticism
Sansad TV, the official broadcaster of parliamentary proceedings, is facing criticism for muting the original audio of MPs speaking in English and replacing it with Hindi voice-overs. The decision has been called, by both political observers and Opposition members, a significant injustice to millions of non-Hindi speaking Indians, who are being denied the opportunity to hear their elected representatives’ actual words in Parliament.
Supriya Sule, NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP from Maharashtra’s Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, and Sharad Pawar’s daughter, has urged the Union government to stop this unethical practice. She described the practice as “deeply problematic” in a post on X, as it “suppresses the MP’s voice, denies elected members the right to be heard in their chosen language, and is autocratic”.
She went on to demand the government stop “such unethical tactics that undermine democratic & constitutional principles and gag the voice of the people of India”.
Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of the online news website The Wire, supported Sule’s concerns by posting a video illustrating the issue, where Rahul Gandhi’s voice is muted and replaced by a Hindi translator’s.
He called Sansad TV’s decision “not just an attack on Indian federalism by foisting Hindi but also a form of censorship of parliamentarians”.
Journalist and author Saba Naqvi also criticised the practice on X, calling the decision “discriminatory towards MPs from non-Hindi speaking states” and urged all MPs to “complain and demand subtitles in the future”.
Veteran Lok Sabha MP NK Premachandran, from Kollur constituency in Kerala, while speaking to the south India-focussed news website South First, said the new practice by Sansad TV is an “absolute discrimination to non-Hindi speaking people” and that Opposition MPs will take the matter up with Speaker Om Birla.
Educator Sandeep Manudhane, quote-tweeting Supriya Sule’s post on X, wrote on similar lines: “With utter disregard for authenticity, original English speech audio of many MPs is being translated into Hindi, and telecast thus. A bad practice that must be discontinued. Hindi and other subtitled languages must be optional in text form. Speaking in English is a choice of some MPs, and with reason. Hindi cannot be forcibly superimposed.”
Congress’ Lok Sabha MP from Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu, Sasikanth Senthil, also speaking to South First, raised questions on the veracity of the translation itself. “I am also alleging that they might not even be translating the right stuff. If anybody could do a micro analysis, I am sure they must be taking a lot of sting out of what the MP is saying, that is also quite possible since nobody is keeping track,” he said.
