Chennai: Accusing the Indian navy of language bias, Tamil Nadu parliamentarian Vaiko Tuesday said the uniformed personnel attacking unarmed Tamil fishermen earlier this month on the premise of not knowing Hindi language was a cascading effect of the union minister Amit Shah's 'narrow vision' of equating Hindi with India.
Vaiko demanded an apology from the union government and the Navy personnel involved in the 'brutal' attack. He alleged that the navy personnel had opened fire on the vessel which was flying the Indian flag and injured a fisherman identified as Veeravel who is now being treated at the government hospital in Madurai. They had attacked the fishermen with iron rods, Vaiko alleged.
The navy personnel checked the Aadhaar cards which the fisherfolk held out and then asked 'Don't you know Hindi?' while they let loose a volley of abuse on the fisherfolk, MDMK supremo Vaiko said in a statement quoting the victims of the October 21 attack by the Indian navy.
On October 21, fishermen from Karaikal were fishing in the southern Gulf of Mannar when soldiers from the Indian Navy opened fire at them. Fisheries minister Anita Radhakrishnan who met the fisherman had said four bullets had pierced through Veeravel. Indian Navy had said it fired warning shots to stop the boat, which ignored repeated warnings to stop.
Also read: Indian Navy opens fire at Tamil Nadu fishermen; probe ordered
"The conduct of the Indian navy is far worse than that of the Sri Lankan navy (which is infamous for attacking Indian fishermen). The fisherfolk too thought they were being raided by the Sri Lankan navy until they were forced to speak in Hindi. The fishermen were bound down, and the navy men were holding them down with their boots while they were responding to the questions in Tamil," Vaiko said in the statement.
The navy personnel heckled the fisherfolk while talking to them in Hindi and repeatedly asked them to respond in Hindi. They kept asking whether the boat was into carrying out any illegal activity or smuggling contraband which the fishermen refuted. The naval officers turned irate as the fisherfolk continued to respond in Tamil, Vaiko said recalling the turn of events.
