Bowing to pressure from the public and from political parties, the National Highways Authority of India has again switched back to English as the language on the milestones along highways along the Tamil Nadu border.
The new highway markers along Tamil Nadu highways that had been translated to Hindi are now gradually being translated back to English again following pressure and criticism from all sides.
The NHAI authorities had cited policy decision and undertaken the work to change the highway markers from English to Hindi script along the national Highways, especially along the roads passing through Krishnagiri, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts.
The decision had drawn flak from the public with comments such as "#StopHindiChauvinism" gaining popularity on the Internet. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) treasurer and acting president M.K. Stalin too has slammed the decision, accusing the BJP-led government of imposing Hindi on the State. Pattali Makkal Katchi and MDMK too had threatened agitation.
"We strongly condemn the act of replacing English language with that of Hindi along the National highways," he had said in a tweet.
Some have even commented on the fact that badly translated words in some cases have added further insult to injury. Last week a group of unidentified individuals had defaced some of the Hindi script written on markers along NH 75.
The idea of Hindi being 'imposed' in Tamil Nadu is not a new one. In the 1930's and 40's there had been protests and riots for the same. The move to introduce compulsory Hindi teaching too was greatly opposed. What many have cited however, is the fact that Hindi is not the National Language of India, merely an official language of the country alongside English. There are also many additional official languages, including Tamil.
It would seem that the protests of the online population and the political parties has been heard.
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