On Independence Day, language activists demand end to Hindi imposition

On Independence Day, activists fighting for linguistic equality expressed anguish over the Union government's resistence to provide EIA notification in regional languages and noted that it insults crores of people who cannot read documents in Hindi or English.

Many activists took to social media, stating that the true meaning of freedom cannot be realised until the Union government respects the rights of states, which includes the varied languages, and stops imposing Hindi.

Promote Linguistic Equality, a group of activists, referred to the accession treaty signed by the then Mysore State with Union of India and said that the state gave only four subjects but the Centre snatched 150 others in the sucessive years.

Arun Javgal of Banavasi Balaga said it was a tragedy that after taking over all the state autonomy, the Centre has, over the last few decades, made imposition of Hindi acceptable. "Hindi is favoured in UPSC, SSC and Railway exams. When people demanded that they be allowed write exams in Kannada, the question paper was translated with a Google tool. Unfortunately, this has been normalised," he said.

Javgal further added: "That someone had to go to Supreme Court to demand a draft law in regional language shows the respect that the central governments give to spirit of democracy."

On Twitter, Vasu Janardhan noted that the idea of a free India will be maimed forever if the governments do not stop throttling the regional language. Many users trolled central organisations like railways, demanding that information be provided in Kannada.