Following in the footsteps of the Mathur grama panchayat in the district, three other local bodies across the State banned the use of ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ in their offices.
The Avinissery grama panchayat in Thrissur, Ambalappuzha North grama panchayat in Alappuzha, and the Uzhavoor grama panchayat in Kottayam were the local bodies that proscribed the use of ‘sir’ and ‘madam’, saying that they were the relics of the colonial period.
With the national media highlighting the historic move made by the Mathur grama panchayat, a serious discussion on the larger issue of purging the official language of the outmoded expressions from the British period has begun.
“It is not a question of just saying bye-bye to ‘sir’ or ‘madam’. It is a question of shifting to a modern, democratic form of language from a language that was basically feudalistic or monarchic,” said Boban Mattumantha, the social activist who laid the foundation for a campaign demanding official language reform.
Mr. Boban and his team have approached 60-odd local bodies in and around Palakkad district demanding corrections in the official Malayalam language. A WhatsApp collective titled Sauhruda Bhasha Group is pushing for iconoclastic reforms in the language being used in official records and applications.
Begun as a funny thought for Mr. Boban, the language modernisation drive is gaining momentum with youngsters joining it. “We started the campaign after getting inspiration from some government and court orders,” said Mr. Boban.
“Those in power treated the people like subjects or slaves during the British Raj. Hence, we had so many words showing too much humility in people’s requests to the government. Gone are those days. Today, people are in power. They don’t have to be at the mercy of those in governance. To get or know something from the government is their right. Therefore, words like apeksha (request), thazhmayayi (humbly), tiyan (referring to the person) should go,” said Mr. Boban.
