Railways remove ‘Kartavya’ inscription in Trichy after political uproar

Trichy/Chennai: Following uproar from various political parties over the botched translation of Hindi words at one of the entrances of the Trichy divisional railway manager (DRM) office, railways on Wednesday removed the erroneous rendering of the words ‘Kartavya Dwar' in Tamil. Railways said that an appropriate name in Tamil would be installed in a few days.While chief minister M K Stalin lashed out at the BJP for ‘crossing the limits' in imposing Hindi, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami was subtle in his reaction and urged the authorities concerned to avoid such incidents that inflame linguistic sentiment in the state.Recently, an old arch at the entrance abutting the railway mail service (RMS) office was redeveloped and reopened on March 3. The arch was named ‘Kartavya Dwar' (Gateway of Duty), but the name was inscribed in Tamil, Hindi and English as ‘Kartavya' without proper translation."In Trichy, they have written the Hindi name itself in Tamil and English. They are calling EPF offices (EPFO) as ‘Bhavishya Nidhi Bhavan', have given Sanskrit names to laws, and have renamed the water resources ministry as ‘Jal Shakti'," Stalin said in a post on X. "They did the same with MGNREGA too," he added. Stalin charged that the ‘arrogance of the BJP was increasing' and warned that the party would face the anger of Tamils if it failed to stop ‘Hindi imposition', Stalin added.Palaniswami appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his govt, for its efforts to popularise and promote Tamil in the international arena. He highlighted the establishment of a Tamil chair in a Malaysian university as part of a broader push to project Tamil language and culture on global platforms. EPS asserted that the people of Tamil Nadu are fully aware of these initiatives and welcome themMadurai MP Su Venkatesan flagged the incident and claimed that the only duty of the BJP-led Union govt was to impose Hindi. Subsequently, MPs Tiruchi Siva and Durai Vaiko also objected to the Hindi nomenclature of the entrance. They said the act offended the sentiments of Tamils and urged the Union railway ministry to withdraw the name.Senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan, while highlighting the incident, said mistakes made by some officials were being perceived as an attempt by the Union govt to impose Hindi. DMK functionaries, led by Trichy mayor Mu Anbalagan and DMK Trichy central district secretary K Vairamani, held a protest outside the DRM office. They also covered the entrance name on the stone plaque with black paint.Following the backlash, DRM office staff in Trichy removed the entrance name on Wednesday evening. "Respecting the sentiments of Tamils, we have removed the translated name. Soon, after consulting senior officials, an appropriate name will be installed at the entrance," a railway official said.