Former Union Minister P Chidambaram, a native of Tamil Nadu, has come out in support of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi, who had tweeted about an incident at an airport wherein she was asked about her citizenship and pointed to his own experiences. Kanimozhi had alleged that a CISF officer had asked her if 'she was an Indian' after she told the official to speak in English as she did not know Hindi.

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"The unpleasant experience of DMK MP Kanimozhi at the Chennai airport is not unusual. I (too) have experienced similar taunts from government officers and ordinary citizens, who insisted that I speak in Hindi during telephone conversations, and sometimes even face to face," Chidambaram said. The former Union Minister said, "If the Centre is genuinely committed to both Hindi and English being the official languages of India, it must insist that all central government employees are bilingual in Hindi and English."

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"While non-Hindi speaking recruits to central government posts quickly learn functional spoken Hindi, why can't Hindi-speaking recruits to these posts learn functional spoken English?" the senior Congress leader asked. Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy also came out in support of Kanimozhi. In a series of tweets, the Janata Dal (Secular) leader said that he stood in solidarity with the DMK MP.

"At the same time, I also condemn Hindi obsession, Hindi politics and Hindi superiority because of which many south Indians and south Indian leaders have lost opportunities. Many leaders in south India have lost out on being the Prime Minister because of Hindi politics. And that list includes people like Karunanidhi, Kamaraj and HD Deve Gowda as well. Because of this obsession, when Deve Gowda was the Prime Minister, he had been questioned and ridiculed many times," he said.

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