india

Updated: Jul 11, 2019 14:35 IST

DMK lawmaker Kanimozhi on Thursday attacked the Union government over Hindi signboards in Tamil Nadu saying common people in the state did not understand Hindi.

“This government has taken up that every program will be only named in Hindi. I would like to ask you how will a villager in my district understand what it is? I’ve seen signboards in Thoothukudi saying PM Sadak Yojana,with no translation. I don’t understand it,” the DMK leader said in Lok Sabha.

The statement comes days after a row erupted over Hindi stickers on road transport corporation (TNSTC) and Metropolitan Transport Corporation of Chennai (MTC) buses in the state. Opposition parties and Tamil activists in the state are up in arms against the AIADMK government on what they claim is ‘Hindi imposition’ as some instructions to passengers, such as, the emergency exit stickers are in Hindi. The photos bearing Hindi script on them went viral on social media platforms.

Kanizmohi, the Thoothukkudi MP, had accused that the move was an attempt to reduce the importance of Tamil and impose Hindi.

“Since the state government purchased all these buses with the tax money of TN people, why should they impose Hindi here?” Kanimozhi questioned on Twitter.

She also slammed the state government saying it is competing with the Union government to impose Hindi in the state.

However, TN state transport department officials denied Kanimozhi’s allegations and said that they have already removed the Hindi words in TN Government buses.

The bus controversy came just as the one regarding a proposal by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) to make Hindi a compulsory language in schools was abating. The NCERT and the Centre had clarified that there was no such move to impose Hindi in schools.