Hindi Signboards Defaced With Black Paint At Central Government Buildings In Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli

Unidentified miscreants in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli have defaced signboards at several central government offices by using black paint to cover writing in Hindi, reports India Today.

Amongst the offices which have been targeted are those belonging to BSNL, BHEL as well as railway stations. Police are as of yet still investigating the matter and trying find out who’s behind the acts of vandalism.

The incident comes amidst a row over ‘three-language formula’ of the draft National Education Police of the Centre, which some political groups in Tamil Nadu have said looks to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states.

Interestingly, it was recently revealed that Tamil Nadu in fact leads all southern states in students voluntarily learning Hindi, with statistics showing an exponential growth in the number of people taking up courses in the language.

Excluding Chennai, Tamil Nadu saw the number of students sitting for exams organised by the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha increase from 1.5 lakh to 4.2 lakh over the same period. The combined figure for the whole state is thus 5.8 lakh, much higher than the other southern states.