BJP govt ‘going beyond limits’ in imposing Hindi, says TN CM, slams naming arch as ‘Kartavya Dwar’
The entrance arch of railway divisional office Tiruchirappalli was recently named ‘Kartavya Dwar’ (Mission Gate), sparking a political debate over language imposition in the state.
Taking strong exception to this, the Chief Minister alleged that the Union BJP government was embarking on a “despicable” imposition of Hindi to write the Hindi name in Tamil and English under the pretext of promoting “one language, three alphabets”.
“They wrote Kartavya Dwar on the entrance arch of Tiruchirappalli regional office of Railways. The attempt to impose Hindi on Tamil and English names should be abandoned and proper Tamil names should be included immediately,” Stalin said in a post on social media platform ‘X’. he said.
Otherwise, he warned, the BJP government would have to feel the heat from the Tamils.
The Center had already imposed the name ‘Bhavishya Nidhi Bhavan’ for the Provident Fund Offices (EPFO) and was giving English Sanskrit names for the new penal codes.
DMK chief Stalin said, “The Union Ministry of Water Resources has been renamed ‘Jal Shakti’ and the 100-day employment guarantee scheme named after Mahatma Gandhi has been renamed. Bitterness and arrogance are increasing.” “We need to teach a proper lesson to these people who are trying to undermine the self-respect of Tamils.” he said.
As opposition against Hindi words in the Tamil script snowballed, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami urged the Central government to immediately intervene in the matter and provide an equivalent name in Tamil.
Palaniswami said in ‘X’: “While the names of central government institutions in Tamil Nadu are mentioned in Tamil, English and Hindi, the Tamil script on the entrance arch of the Regional Railways Office Tiruchirappalli was used to write Hindi words without proper translation.”
He said reports indicate that railway officials agreed to remove the Hindi name, respecting the objections.
“The people of Tamil Nadu are well aware of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre’s commitment to the Tamil language. While the Central government is consistently recognizing the Tamil language, such incidents should be avoided,” the former CM said. he said.
Even while visiting countries around the world, the Prime Minister proudly stated that Tamil is the oldest language in the world. Palaniswami stated that the Prime Minister had recently signed an agreement with the Malaysian government to establish a “Thiruvalluvar Chair” at the Malaysian University.
Meanwhile, some of the DMK members staged an agitation by applying black paint on the inaugural plaque which had the words Kartavya Dwar in Tamil and demanding the authorities concerned to change the Hindi words.
They later dispersed when officials assured them that appropriate Tamil lyrics would be written to replace Kartavya Dwar.
