A Bharatiya Janata Party councillor in Delhi has triggered a row after posting a video on social media in which she is seen threatening to bar a man from teaching football at a public park if he does not learn Hindi within a month.

Reports said that the man was African, but it was unclear which country he is a citizen of. He provides football coaching at a municipal park in the Mayur Vihar area.

The video shows Renu Chaudhary telling the man: “You have not learnt Hindi. Why have you not learnt it? If you do not learn Hindi within a month…then take the park away from him”.

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The councillor, who represents the Patparganj ward, also said: “If you make your living here, you must learn the local language as well.”

The man has lived in the area for nearly 15 years, NDTV reported.

Chaudhary told The Hindu that she had visited the park to address unrelated complaints about the park made by residents.

Defending her remarks, Chaudhary was quoted as saying: “Anyone living and working in the country for years should make an effort to understand and speak the local language, just as we respect rules and language of the land when we go abroad.”

She said that as most people in India speak in Hindi, there is nothing wrong if foreigners learn the language, NDTV reported. The councillor said that it was not her intention to threaten anyone but to ease communication between the coach and the authorities.

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Most employees of the municipal corporation do not understand English, Chaudhary added.

“I had asked him eight months ago to pay revenue, as that was an [Municipal Corporation of Delhi] park and he was using it for commercial activities,” NDTV quoted Chaudhary as saying. “Since he was charging children for football lessons, I asked him to pay revenue to the MCD. He told me that he does not understand Hindi.”

“The MCD official had also said that since he did not know Hindi, they were finding it difficult to communicate with him,” she added.