The Maharashtra government Saturday issued a Government Resolution (GR) making it mandatory for all employees working in government and government-funded institutions to use the greeting ‘Vande Mataram’ instead of ‘hello’ while receiving telephone or mobile phone calls from citizens or government officials.
The GR issued by the General Administration Department states officials should also create awareness among the people, who come to meet them, to use ‘Vande Mataram’ as a greeting.
The GR states that the word ‘hello’ is imitation of Western culture and just a ‘greeting without any specific meaning and does not evoke any affection.’
This proposal was initially mooted by Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar soon after he was sworn-in recently. He later backtracked and said that any equivalent word reflecting nationalism can be used.
