Bengaluru: Yielding to the pressure exerted by the pro-Kannada outfits the BMRCL has finally done away with the usage of Hindi signboards at some of the Metro stations in the city on Friday.
The #Namma Metro Hindi Beda campaign that started on Twitter soon gained momentum with demands to do away with the imposition of Hindi by the Centre. Pro-Kannada outfits had even staged protests at various Metro station in the city and had even resorted to defacing of the signages.
Soon after the Kannada Development Authority also met BMRCL officials and raised the same demand.
The BMRCL was using the Hindi signages in adherence to the three-language policy of the Centre that mandated the use of Hindi along with English and the local language. However several Kannada outfits as well as the chief minister had raised objections to this policy and the latter had even written a Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar urging him for the removal of the signages.
Meanwhile few even questioned the choice of Hindi as a third language in the state where the Hindi-speaking population is minimal compared to other language-speaking population. Pointing out that Telugu, Tamil and Gujarati population is higher than the Hindi-speaking population the KDA chairman reasoned why these language should not get preference over Hindi.
