K'taka CM writes to Centre, asks for removal of Hindi script from Namma Metro

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Amid the protests over the use of Hindi in Bengaluru Metro signboards, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a letter to Union Urban Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar asserting that the state government was compelled to ask the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) to temporarily re-design the signages and name boards in Namma Metro stations, without using the Hindi language, in the backdrop of the row over its use.

The Chief Minister then asked the Union Minister to review the Ministry's earlier decision on use of three languages which are - Regional, Hindi and English as the centre's "three language policy is not reasonable."

In his letter, Siddaramaiah stated that it would be appropriate to implement policies of the state government in the metro.

"Although both the Centre and State have equal stake in the BMRCL, the financial contribution of the state government is much more than that of the Government of India. Moreover, the supervision of operations, providing of security etc to the BMRCL is the responsibility of the state government. Also, the state government has undertaken to repay all the loans contracted by the BMRCL and also to bear the operating losses," he said in the letter.

Earlier, the Pro-Kannada organisation Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) staged a protest in front of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) demanding 70 percent of the language written on any board/signboard or name plate should be in Kannada.

On July 19, the anti-Hindi agitation was exhibited by the members of the KRV who blackened words written in Hindi on the signboard outside Yeswanthpur metro station.

The members took up the task of blackening the Hindi words written on almost all metro stations, including Jaynagar, Peenya, Deepanjali Nagar, Mysore Road, and Yashwanthpura metro stations.

Not just Hindi, even English faced the heat of pro-Kannada activists in Karnataka earlier.

On July 6, the KRV defaced English and Hindi signage of a restaurant in a mall near Bengaluru's Eco tech park.

After the anti-Hindi Twitter campaign, #NammaMetroHindiBeda ('Our Metro, We don't want Hindi'), Hindi words on the signboards of two Metro stations - Chickpete and Majestic - were covered with paper and taped on July 3.

These metro boards were in Kannada, English and Hindi.