BENGALURU: The inauguration of foot-operated hand wash kiosks for passengers by Bangalore Railway Division, with three housekeeping staff doing the honours on Friday, earned it praise. However, by Sunday night, it landed Divisional Railway Manager Ashok Kumar Verma right into the middle of a raging language controversy.
The two kiosks were sponsored by Hindustan Unilever Limited to Bengaluru Division and had stickers on them in English and Hindi. In the aftermath of DMK MP Kanimozhi’s statement that she was asked to speak in Hindi in the airport in her own state, and the issue, snowballing into a North vs South language war, caught fire unexpectedly on Twitter.
Atticus Balgit Finch queried thus: “Why Hindi in South India?” The DRM responded: “Because it is India.” To another tweet, he replied: “All efforts are being made to provide important info in local language as well. Making issue of language every time even if it is a small sticker on the item donated by an outsider agency is not correct. Instead of appreciating the effort, you bring anti-Hindi views every time.” It drew 185 responses, many quite harsh.
Anil Kumar K reacted sharply: “Whoever handling this account needs to be brought to realization. This person does not understand the constitution of India.” Another tweet said, “We are not slaves and are proud Kannadigas.” Some trolls even urged Union Minister Suresh Angadi or CM to take action against the DRM.
The arguments which began on Sunday night continued till 7pm Monday. Abin Pues tweeted: “It became an issue bcos you concluded Hindi=India which is against the very spirit on which the country was formed.” SWR Chief Public Relations Officer E Vijaya said, “The foot operated sanitiser kiosk was provided by HUL under its CSR scheme. The stickers too were provided by them. Later, stickers in Kannada too were provided.”