Tamil Nadu’s language politics has once again come to the fore, with the appearance of Hindi alongside Tamil and English on medicine covers distributed at government hospitals in Karur and Coimbatore triggering a fresh controversy.
Now, former DMK Industries Minister TRB Rajaa red-flagged the distribution of medicines in covers carrying Tamil, English and Hindi, questioning the use of Hindi on them. He and others objected to the Hindi text on brown covers carrying instructions on dosage and whether medicines should be taken before or after food in the morning, noon and night.
The issue comes days after a row over Hindi appearing on State Highways signboards, with the DMK, VCK and Left parties criticising the TVK government and accusing it of imposing Hindi in Tamil Nadu and accused govt of following the Modi government’s diktats.
DMK leader Rajaa said: “It seems like the three languages policy is being implemented in Tamil Nadu hospitals too! First Karur… now the same situation in Coimbatore as well.”
He had earlier posted images of similar covers with instructions in three languages being used in Karur. They objected to this as contradicting the two-language policy of Tamil Nadu.
Soon after the row, Coimbatore Medical College Hospital said fresh covers would replace the Hindi-worded ones.
RMO B Saravanapriya said, “We replaced these covers with the new ones on October 6. Such covers had been in use for a long time. The same cover has been issued to patients during the previous government as well. It has been there for more than 18 months. These covers are being printed at Chinthamani Cooperative Society with funds roped in from sponsors.”
Karur Medical College Hospital Dean M Bharathi Mohan, in an explanation, said the covers in three languages were printed at the Erode cooperative press. An order was issued during the DMK regime in December 2025. It has been there for more than 18 months. Earlier, it was only in Tamil. These three-language covers had been in use from January this year. They have now been replaced with covers carrying only Tamil.
Social media activist Sumanth Raman hit back at such leaders, saying, “Stockists feel that it is better the migrant workers die by not knowing when to take their medicines than allow Hindi with Tamil and English on the drug slips. The hatred never stops.”
Another social media activist, Harish M, questioned, “What’s wrong with Hindi? It is just a language, just like Tamil. There are many Tamils living in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country. They continue to use Tamil for various occasions, and people in those states generally don’t question them for speaking their mother tongue.
Yet, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka often turn language into a political issue, with some people seemingly wanting the next generation to know no language other than Tamil. The irony is that parties and organisations that oppose Hindi can still run channels such as Sun Neo, Sun Marathi, Sun Bangla and others in different Indian languages. Learning another language does not mean abandoning Tamil.
A language should be a means of communication, not a political weapon. If you genuinely believe that Hindi could eventually dominate Tamil, then perhaps the same concern should be raised with Sunshine School and Mrs Senthamarai Sabareesan about teaching Hindi to their students. The concern should be about the principle itself, regardless of who is promoting or teaching the language,” he further added.
TN BJP youth wing functionary SG Surya said, “Every DMK leader running schools that teach Hindi will hereafter be called as ‘நாத்தம் பிடிச்ச DMK Leaders’.”
Another said, “Because Tamil Nadu is benefiting from millions of migrant workers who depend on government hospitals for even bare minimum clinical support. And they need to read the dosage in the language they understand. And this is the bare minimum a government can do for them to provide them medical assistance, which is a basic human right!”
Srini Swaminatha said, “This is in poor taste by TRB. Wonder which Govt who printed these covers – DMK or TVK? Nothing wrong if TVK govt continued this practice because it is lifesaving.”
Another netizen said, “This kind of hatred by @arivalayam at TRB Rajaa just for the sake of politics is totally uncalled for. Think about the number of migrant workers who live in Coimbatore. To resist imposition is one thing but to hate and not accommodate is totally different. How well we accommodate people from different states should speak volumes about the kind of people we are.”
Another said, “What is this @CMOTamilnadu,@arunrajkg? Why only in Karur, Kovai. We need this in Tirupur too please. Around 5 lakh Hindi speakers are there in one and only cosmopolitan city of TN Tirupur. Don’t listen to this guys who send their kids to Hindi medium schools.”
Another post said that it was during DMK rule that orders were placed for three-language covers.
One of the netizens said, “The cost of DMK regressive politics impacting school and education in the state! Shameful! Hope @CMOTamilnadu @TVKVijayHQ solves this arrogance with humility.”
Coimbatore Medical College Hospital said, “We handle around 3,000 to 4,000 outpatients a day. A large number of migrant workers seek treatment here.”
In Tamil Nadu, North Indian workers are employed in textiles, hotels, construction, agriculture, industries and every sector. So, the inclusion of the Hindi language on medicine covers will highly help, as pharmacy counters are understaffed and cannot have the time to explain the instructions to them. Staff are not conversant in Hindi.
Critics argue that successive Dravidian-centric parties have found language politics to be the simplest and fastest method to gain political points rather than holding governments accountable for transparency in development and administration, linguistic disputes are repeatedly turned into political issues whenever Hindi appears in writing or speech.
