Tamil Nadu: Locals unhappy with curd being renamed to 'Dahi'
What 'curd' get more wrong? India's weird tryst with nomenclature isn't something new, especially ever since the country went on a name changing-spree by renaming many cities. Forget destinations, it now looks like even edible products are on the radar as a recent move to rename curd as Dahi in Tamil Nadu sparked debates down south.
'Curd' and 'Thayir' to now be called 'Dahi,' says FSSAI
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently told the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation Limited to change the labels of all the curd packets. The directive says to change "Curd" and "Thayir" (in Tamil) to "Dahi," the Hindi word for curd or yogurt. Not just that, it also applies to other commonly consumed milk products like butter and cheese.
Karnataka also asked to change 'Mosaru' to 'Dahi'
The authority has also asked the milk producers in Karnataka to label curd packets as "Curd" instead of "Mosaru." They have asked the federation to instead put the latter in brackets against the former on the packaging. This has added more fuel to the ongoing war between the southern states of India and the BJP-led union government.
Here's what the FSSAI directive says
"Dahi can be labeled as per the following examples. Dahi (Curd), Dahi (Mosaru), Dahi (Zaamut daud), Dahi (Tayir), Dahi (Perugu) or Dahi (Tair) etc., based on the regional nomenclature used in different states for Dahi."
The federation is unhappy, shows resistance against the directive
This directive hasn't gone down too well with the federation of milk producers in both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Agitated, the folks have written to FSSAI to allow them to continue labeling the said products in their regional language. The federation also says that "curd" is a fairly generic term that is used in any language, which isn't the same case with "Dahi."
A linguistic battle: CM MK Stalin calls it 'Hindi imposition'
Slamming the directive, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin believes that this is "Hindi imposition." "The unabashed insistences of #HindiImposition have come to the extent of directing us to label even a curd packet in Hindi, relegating Tamil & Kannada in our states. Such brazen disregard to our mother tongues will make sure those responsible are banished from South forever," he tweeted.
Here's what he tweeted
BJP chief demands rollback of FSSAI's order
Siding with the CM, the Tamil Nadu chief of the BJP, K Annamalai, has appealed for a rollback of the FSSAI's order. He believes that it is not in tangent with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy and schemes of promoting regional languages, which is why it should be acted upon immediately. The duo warned that it would alienate the people of South India.
Tamil Nadu's previous cases of anti-Hindi resistance
This isn't the first time that Tamil Nadu has stood against Hindi promoted by BJP-led Union government. Its anti-Hindi resistance is also visible in its education system as it rejected the three-language formula that included Tamil students learning Hindi as their third language. Stalin has often called it an "impractical" and "divisive" move that "jeopardizes the spirit" of Union-state relationships.
