The debate over Hindi imposition in the southern states has resurfaced once again. This time triggered by a controversy over safety slogans painted on the steps of a foot overbridge in Trivandrum Central Station.
On Friday, the official Twitter handle of Trivandrum Division Southern Railway shared a photograph of safety and cleanliness slogans painted in English and Hindi. Some of the signs read, "Cleanliness is the only medicine to all diseases”, "Today is the best day to pledge for cleanliness", "Swatchatha ki prathinja aaj hi harein" and “Safety rules are our best tools".
Foot over bridge at Trivandrum central sports cleanliness and safety slogans reinfocing our commitment pic.twitter.com/mnnjuyKUlY
— DRM Trivandrum (@TVC138) November 3, 2017
While some lauded the initiative to maintain cleanliness at the station, many were quick to point out the absence of slogans in Malayalam.
To whom this messages? This is Kerala and our mother tongue is Malayalam.u believe all of us will know English/Hindi? @RailMinIndia
— Gopa Kumar M.G. (@mggopakumar) November 3, 2017
@PiyushGoyal Pls add slogans in Malayalam as well&show ur commitment to everyone here.We all don't knw Hindi/English.
— Gopa Kumar M.G.(@mggopakumar) November 3, 2017
IN KERALA PEOPLE SPEAK MALAYALAM! NOT HINDI..
— Brisbane Malayali (@BMalayali) November 4, 2017
Looks like the messages are meant for north Indian tourists!
— TK (@tkqtr2009) November 4, 2017
Where is Malayalam??... Is this in Hindi state??...
— Theevra Chaukas (@gbz2016) November 4, 2017
This slogans are meant only for north Indian people who work in Kerala. When these guys are going to learn to respect local languages?
— Toshi (@antonytoshi) November 4, 2017
Soon, Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram also took note of the initiative. However, he said that if the idea was to reach more local people, Malayalam should have been used in the slogans.
Terrific idea but Malayalam should also have been used if the idea is to reach the local people who use the station. Most don't read Hindi! https://t.co/cu9eBSJeSx
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 4, 2017
As several people began to flood the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM)'s Twitter page, TNM reached out to the official.
The DRM said that the safety signs were painted on the foot overbridge as per the direction from the Chairman, Railway Board.
"The direction has been given to all the divisions. We started doing it now, others will follow," the official said.
Asked about the languages chosen for the sign boards, the official said:
"The directive did not specify the choice of language, that was done as per the discretion of the division."
The official, however, dismissed criticism that Malayalam was kept out of the sign boards. He said that safety and cleanliness slogans were painted in Malayalam too on a different set of steps on another overbridge.
The debate over Hindi imposition was triggered recently when the signage boards in metro stations in Bengaluru sported Hindi boards instead of Kannada. The Hindi boards were eventually taken down following widespread protests by Kannada groups, which attacked the Centre for attempting to impose Hindi.
The question of 'Hindi imposition' had started a war of words between Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and various central ministers.