Chennai: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) ordered state-owned dairy product manufacturer "Aavin" to use the word "Dahi" in its curd sachets, sparking controversy in Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister MK Stalin called it an "unabashed instance of Hindi imposition”.
In a tweet, Stalin said, “The unabashed insistence of Hindi Imposition have come to the extent of directing us to label even a curd packet in Hindi, relegating Tamil & Kannada in our own states. Such brazen disregard to our mother tongues will make sure those responsible are banished from the South forever (sic)”.
The chief minister requested that the FSSAI honour the feelings of the populace by using a term from the local tongue, Indian Express reported.
The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which manufactures dairy products under the "Nandini" brand, and the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, which produces dairy products under the "Aavin" brand, were told by the FSSAI to use the Hindi term "Dahi" in their curd sachets, according to a report published on Wednesday in The Hindu.
According to Hindu, the FSSAI proposed that if the product complies with the pertinent requirements of this standard, the term "Fermented Milk" in the curd sachets could be replaced with "Dahi" and "yoghurt." The FSSAI also stated that Tamil words like "tair" or "tayir" could be used in brackets.
But according to reports, Aavin has notified the relevant authority that it will not print the word "Dahi."
A rollback of the FSSAI's directive was also demanded by K Annamalai, the head of the Tamil Nadu BJP. In a tweet, he said, “The notification released by FSSAI for the use of “Dhahi” in curd sachets produced by state-run cooperative societies is not in tandem with the policy of our Hon PM Thiru @narendramodi avl to promote regional languages. We want an immediate rollback of the notification”.