Furore over railways’ tweet

Official handle of the Divisional Railway Manager lectures those seeking Kannada signage, changes tack after outrage

Because it is India.’ That was the response of the Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru, when a Twitter user asked why Hindi got pride of place on a new sanitiser kiosk installed at the Bengaluru railway station.

DRM Ashok Kumar Verma did not stop at that. He pontificated to those asking for Kannada signage, describing it as a ‘local language’. (It is as ‘national’ as Hindi, according to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.)

The tweet Verma was responding to was posted by Atticus Balgit Finch (@malayaliatticus): ‘Why Hindi in South India?’

Verma’s response triggered a storm of protest on a day Kanimozhi, MP from Tamil Nadu, had complained of a language incident in Chennai leading to a question about her nationality. When she sought to speak in Tamil or English, a CISF staffer had asked her, ‘Are you Indian?’

In Bengaluru, the railway official said in response to another tweet: ‘All efforts are being made to provide info in local language as well. Making issue of language… is not correct. Instead of appreciating the effort, you bring anti-Hindi views every time.’

Within hours of the furore, the DRM posted a new photo of the kiosk, with stickers in Kannada, Hindi and English. A couple of tweets appeared in Kannada on the official handle.

The two incidents bring to the forefront the continued efforts of the central government to establish Hindi on non-Hindi speakers, say protesters. Hindi-speaking states get away with two languages, while the southern states (except Tamil Nadu) are expected to learn three, including mandatory Hindi, they say.

Arun Javagal, member of Banavasi Balaga, a Kannada activist group, says, “Over the past 70 years, the central government has tried to place Hindi at the helm and erase regional languages.”

The Constitution lists out 22 languages of the Union of India. “They are listed alphabetically to further emphasis that no language holds more importance than the other,” says Prajwal K Aradhya, a lawyer who specialises in civil litigation.

Javagal says Kannada groups are not opposed to the use of Hindi and English for the 150 items that fall under the Union list, which includes the railways. “However, as taxpayers and citizens of the country, we are not wrong in demanding that our language be used equally,” he says.

In a democracy, the advantages and disadvantages should be shared. When south Indians move elsewhere they manage with English or learn the language of the region. But, Hindi-speakers don’t face such problems because all services are available in Hindi everywhere, says Javagal.

T S Nagabharana, chairman of the Kannada Development Authority, says that the states in this country have been linguistically demarcated, which places language at a position of importance. Yet, regional languages continue to be ignored by migrants in Bengaluru.

“People want to settle here but they don’t want to speak the language. How is that possible?” he says.

The number of states that speak Hindi in India are a minority. It seems like an attempt to bring the country under a single authority and undermine diversity, says Prajwal. Most people even in the Hindi belt don’t speak in their daily conversations.

So when you say all those who don’t speak Hindi are anti-national, you’re talking about a large majority of the country, says Chandan Kumar, linguist and assistant professor at Christ (Deemed to be University).

Three languages

In 2007, the railways stopped printing tickets in the regional languages. After many campaigns and protests, they were reintroduced in 2017.

However, the current rules suggest that general class tickets should be printed in the regional languages and premium tickets printed only in Hindi and English.

“Are you implying that all Hindi-speakers are upper class? Or that if you are educated, you have to know one of the two languages?” says Javagal.

Campaigners say the three-language policy should instead be replaced by two-language policy where the focus is on the regional language and English.

Voices of support

H D Kumaraswamy was among those who spoke out in support of Kanimozhi. He said he had faced discrimination and ridicule from Hindi zealots, and so had his father H D Deve Gowda when he served as prime minister. Linguistic discrimination is affecting employment prospects, he said, adding that candidates are forced to write exams in either English or Hindi. “There is no place for Kannada in this year’s (banking services) notification. Kannadigas are being denied opportunities,” he said.

Detrimental to administration

Prajwal says that the imposition of Hindi will cause roadblocks to development. A recent example of this is the EIA draft. A notice pertaining to the entire country was only translated into Kannada after a directive by the Karnataka High Court. It is yet to be translated into all the other regional languages.

He says that the only way to move towards a change in how language is viewed across the country is to have leaders in the parliament who would advocate for it. “They need to move away from a Delhi-centric approach and look at the fact they are representing the whole of India,” he says.

He adds that it is not as easy as one might think. “Even to get your foot in the door and be listened to seriously one needs a command over Hindi. I remember when Tejasvi Surya spoke in Kannada in the parliament even my colleagues in Bengaluru were passing comments about their inability to understand. It’s not an easy system to change,” he explains.