DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Friday condemned the LIC for making it compulsory for its employees to sign the register in Hindi at least once in a week and sought the Centre’s intervention.
Responding to a set of questions in the party mouthpiece Murasoli, Mr Karunanidhi claimed that a circular issued to LIC personnel following a meeting on June 29 had asked them to compulsorily sign at least once in a week in Hindi besides carrying correspondence in that language to promote it.
“The anti-Hindi agitation started because of such circulars,” he pointed out.
“It is condemnable that the assurance given by Pandit Nehru (that the language will not be imposed on non-Hindi speaking states) to non-Hindi speaking people has been forgotten and it is unnecessarily being imposed again. The question before us is whether the Centre will take note of this and act,” he said.
The octogenarian leader, whose party is a key constituent of the ruling UPA at the Centre, expressed doubts if Nehru’s assurances would remain merely on paper.
Meanwhile, members of the Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam in Coimbatore protested outside the LIC’s branch office and attempted to blacken Hindi words on name boards. The police detained around 40 people.