India is a land of diversity with many ethnicities and languages, and debate regarding country's official language is something that keeps coming back to haunt us all. Currently, another controversy with Hindi started brewing after English signs on milestones in Tamil Nadu were replaced by Hindi. According to reports, on border districts of the states, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has "been quietly erasing English names from the milestones for the past few months, replacing it with Hindi script." The move has left many truck drivers, patients travelling for treatments, travellers from non-Hindi states baffled not to mention the inconvenience caused. The NHAI has a three-language policy for road signage across all state and national highways — vernacular of the particular state, Hindi and English. However, most of the milestones now have only names written in Tamil and Hindi. Not to mention that many Hindi translations have been faulty confusing travellers more than anything. "Workers have been erasing English names on milestones on Chittoor-Vellore NH and replacing it with Hindi. Adding to the confusion is the rather shoddy translation of names. A case in point is the Hindi translation of Gudiyatham, which reads Kudhiyatham," The New Indian Express reported. The move has not only caused confusion it has irked people of the state who have taken to social media to vent out their anger and launch a protest under the hashtag #StopHindiChauvinism. This is not the first time 'wrongly' imposing Hindi has caused a public outcry, earlier in the 1930s and 1960s, Tamil Nadu saw massive protests and riots against ‘Hindi imposition’. Several politicians too have come forward across political lines and vehemently opposed the move. As the political parties have launched a scathing attack on the BJP for the move, Netizens argue that while Hindi may be an official language, it is not the national language of the country. And not just from Tamil Nadu, people across all over India and joined in the protest. #StopHindiChauvinism This is totally unethical! Why should HINDI occupies here in milestone :( pic.twitter.com/Arb6CuBZrk — Manoj Daran (@Manojdaran) April 3, 2017 #StopHindiChauvinism pic.twitter.com/rjtM6viVXv — Ramsey (@ramkiramasamy) April 3, 2017 #StopHindiChauvinism you don't learn Kannada,Tamil or Bangla in Northern part.want us to learn Hindi here in South Hypocrisy at its best — Vijeth Kumar Shetty (@vijeth_pesce) April 3, 2017 Hindi is not National Language of India.Imposition of hindi killed many languages #StopHindiChauvinism pic.twitter.com/SOqSdyrn9l @narendramodi — Voice of South (@South_Indians) April 5, 2017 Dear Hindi speakers, this tag is not against you. This is against a bull dozing Govt that takes us for granted. Peace. #StopHindiChauvinism — N (@nethraa_) April 3, 2017 @itisdeepakdubey @Neyandar S. British imposed English but now Hindi is being imposed on us. pic.twitter.com/6IfY5dlD4D — Praveen Kumar (@Praveenkumar91) April 4, 2017 British r renowned fr colonisation Let Hindi belt admit that they're also colonising non Hindi regions of India, then. #StopHindiChauvinism — ಬೀದಿ ನಾಟಕ (@mareguLi) April 4, 2017 Glad we had leaders like Annadurai #StopHindiChauvinism pic.twitter.com/5mX283SgB9 — புலி Arαşαη (@PuliArason) April 3, 2017 Which language a Tamilian and a Kannadiga will converse in, is up to the individuals not for a Hindi speaker to decide. #StopHindiChauvinism — Suhruta Yajaman (@syajaman) April 3, 2017 Dear Indian government if u trying to impose Hindi on us this wat happen #StopHindiChauvinism 😂 pic.twitter.com/Qf7WGa0IX6 — pirammarajan (@pirammarajan) April 3, 2017 If Karnataka should have a multilingual policy, it should b along the lines of Kannada+Tulu+Kodava+Konkani and English. #StopHindiChauvinism — Liberator Furiosa (@MissFurioso) April 3, 2017 Imposing Hindi is a violation if the federal structure.. #StopHindiChauvinism — Nirmal Raj (@nirins4u) April 5, 2017 Being a #Kannadiga, I cannot accept Hindi replacing my language #Kannada in daily life. Dear Hindians, #StopHindiChauvinism in India. — ಚಯ್ತನ್ಯ ಸುಬ್ಬಣ್ಣ (@Chaitanya_TS) April 3, 2017 Dear Southies kudos to you for stopping the Hindi onslaught. Love from - A Bihari who lost his language i.e. Bhojpuri. #StopHindiChauvinism — Rogue Academic (@rogueacademic88) April 3, 2017 Hindi is not our national language. It is just an another regional language #StopHindiChauvinism pic.twitter.com/oXWdp2gk05 — Sushil Hurmade💥 (@Sir_GOLDY) April 3, 2017 #StopHindiChauvinism Being an Odia , I am against unnecessary imposing of Hindi. It ruins our mother tongue when people speak mixed language — A ଆନନ୍ଦ (@ACrazy_boy) April 3, 2017 Hindi is not the national language So Pls #StopHindiChauvinism pic.twitter.com/zo7xD3dboC — ஜெபா (@jebz4) April 3, 2017 #StopHindiChauvinism because encroachments upon mother tongues destroy cultures — madhubrata (@bengali_beat) April 3, 2017 Yes this is the power of kannadigas Dont test our patience This is karnataka not hindia#StopHindiChauvinism pic.twitter.com/Q3EKwiTXIi — purvi raj arasu (@purviraju1) April 4, 2017
