Karnataka's anti-Hindi row now also includes English

After Hindi, now English is facing the heat of pro-Kannada activists in Karnataka.

Amid the ongoing anti-Hindi row, a pro-Kannada organisation- Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV)- on Thursday defaced English and Hindi signage of a restaurant in a mall near Bengaluru's Eco tech park.

After the anti-Hindi Twitter campaign, #NammaMetroHindiBeda ('Our Metro, We don't want Hindi'), Hindi words on the signboards of two Metro stations- Chickpete and Majestic- were covered with paper and taped on July 3.

These metro boards were in Kannada, English and Hindi.

KRV activist Praveen Shetty owned the anti-Hindi and anti-English action against the restaurant.

He told ANI that "we have done this because industries and businesses use land; electricity of Karnataka for profit but they don't want to use Kannada language or give jobs to Kannadigas".

Shetty further demanded to use Kannada in Delhi and other places if Hindi or English are to be used in Karnataka.

"If you put Kannada signage in Delhi and other places then we will put your signage in Karnataka," Shetty said.

Now, it seems that the controversy is not going to die down soon as the government seems to be with the Twitter campaign.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has reportedly supported the anti-Hindi brigade and has asked the officials to find out what policy was followed in non- Hindi states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and etcetera.

Following the Chief Minister's directive, the Kannada Development Authority on Tuesday issued notice to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd ( BMRCL) and sought an explanation why it was using three-language policy.

-ANI