‘Dahi, Thayir’ row: After ‘Hindi imposition’ backlash, FSSAI revises notice on renaming curd packets

March 30, PRESS RELEASE@MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/iWjwUbzCt3

— FSSAI (@fssaiindia) March 30, 2023

A release issued by the FSSAI on Thursday said, “As many representations were received recently on omission of the term ‘curd’, from the Standards of Fermented Milk Products, it has been decided that FBOs may use the term Curd along with any other designation (prevalent regional common name) in brackets on the label.”

The row erupted after the FSSAI, reiterating its January notification, issued a directive dated March 10 to milk cooperatives and private dairies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, asking them to use before August the term “Dahi” along with prevalent regional names in brackets. The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited, which sells dairy products under the brand name Aavin, declined to use the term “Dahi” on its packets and said it would only use the Tamil term “Thayir”.

The January notification was purportedly meant to do away with the term “curd” as it restricted the use of the word for non-dairy products. The notification had stated, “Provided that the name ‘Fermented Milk’ may be replaced with designations Dahi and Yoghurt … any other designation (prevalent regional common name) may be used together with the term ‘dahi’ in brackets on the label.”

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 own states.

Such brazen disregard to our mother tongues will make sure those responsible are banished from South forever. https://t.co/6qvARicfUw pic.twitter.com/gw07ypyouV

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) March 29, 2023

In a series of tweets, Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumaraswamy hit out at the FSSAI “for imposing Hindi” on Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) products. Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in Mandya, wherein he had announced the merger of Amul and Nandini, Kumaraswamy asked if using Hindi was the first step “in hijacking Nandini”. He also claimed that the BJP government in Karnataka had secretly accepted the “imposition Hindi”.

ನಂದಿನಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಆಸ್ತಿ, ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಅಸ್ಮಿತೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಜೀವನಾಡಿ. ಇದು ಗೊತ್ತಿದ್ದರೂ ಹಿಂದಿ ಹೇರಿಕೆಯ ಅಹಂ ತೋರಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಈ ಹಿಂದೆ ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಗೃಹ ಸಚಿವ ಶ್ರೀ @AmitShah ಅವರು ಮಂಡ್ಯದ ಸಭೆಯೊಂದರಲ್ಲಿ, ಗುಜರಾತಿನ ಅಮುಲ್ ಜತೆ ನಂದಿನಿಯನ್ನು ವಿಲೀನ ಮಾಡುವುದಾಗಿ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದರು. ಹಿಂದಿ ಪದ ಮುದ್ರಣ ನಂದಿನಿ ಹೈಜಾಕಿನ ಅರಂಭವಾ?2/9 pic.twitter.com/nr75xryBnV

— ಹೆಚ್.ಡಿ.ಕುಮಾರಸ್ವಾಮಿ | H.D.Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) March 30, 2023

Anand Kumar, a director on the KMF board, said dairy farmers will not allow KMF to sell curd packets with the word “Dahi” on them in Karnataka.

“We strictly oppose the Hindi culture that the Centre is imposing upon us,” Kumar 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. pic.twitter.com/SKK18O59li

— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) March 29, 2023

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had termed the January notification by the apex food safety regulator as an attempt to “impose Hindi”. “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 own states. Such brazen disregard to our mother tongues will make sure those responsible are banished from South forever,” Stalin had tweeted. BJP state chief K Annamalai said the notification was not in tandem with the Centre’s policy of promoting regional languages.