Karnataka: No to metro boards in Hindi, say Kannada activists

Bengaluru: What started as a social media outrage, quickly turned into an offline protest with pro-Kannada organisations holding a demonstration in front of the BMRCL office on Friday morning.

The argument over having Hindi signage and direction boards in the Metro rail, led to #NammaMetroHindiBeda, followed by a notice sent from Kannada Development Authority to Metro officials.

Commenting on issue, Kannada Activist Vatal Nagaraj told Deccan Chronicle, "Hindi is slowly creeping into Karnataka and nobody approves it. The State Government is supporting this and not raising its voice, especially when authorities like Governor Vajubhai Vala give Hindi speeches in the Assembly." "Nowhere is there a hard and fast rule that Hindi must be used officially, along with the regional language and English. The Centre can do as they please elsewhere, but in Karnataka our mother tongue is Kannada and it must be used in public services like Metro," Nagaraj declared.

However, Congress MLA Dinesh Gundurao uploaded a document on social media, which included a notification from Ministry of Urban Development dated December 2016.

It stated, "The Joint Hindi Advisory Committee of Urban Development after a meeting held at Kochi,  has issued directions that as per the official language policy of the Union Government, it is necessary that at all metro stations located in non-Hindi speaking regions, the signboards, name boards, announcements and publication material, etc for public information shall be in all three languages - regional language, Hindi and English."

Commenting on the issue activist Prakash Belawadi said, "The ministry had a meeting and issued the directive in non-Hindi speaking places, secretively. Where was the discussion with State Governments and public consultation? This is not about anti-Hindi or anti any language."

Belawadi expressed his worry over BMRCL's attitude and said, the department has to be responsive and responsible. "BMRCL has to respond before things take an ugly turn. They must admit they are terrified of the Central Government and are acting under their orders. I am a big fan of Metro and I have nothing against Hindi either. It is about the principle of any language imposition without deliberation." In his tweet Gundurao said, "Why is Modi Government pushing Hindi in this manner. We are a multi-lingual country, all languages should have equal status & respect."