Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on Tuesday strongly criticized the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India for featuring Hindi prominently on its website. Stalin shared a screenshot on social media, accusing LIC of turning its website into a propaganda tool for imposing Hindi. He pointed out that even the option to select English was displayed in Hindi, which he described as an attempt to force cultural and language imposition on India’s diverse population.
In his post, Stalin said, “LIC grew with the patronage of all Indians. How dare it betray the majority of its contributors? We demand an immediate rollback of this linguistic tyranny. #StopHindiImposition.” He argued that this move trampled on India’s linguistic diversity.
In response, LIC explained that the issue was caused by a “technical problem” that had disrupted the language options on its website. In a post on ‘X’ later, LIC apologized for the inconvenience and clarified that the issue had been resolved. The website was now accessible in both English and Hindi.
The issue also drew criticism from Dr. S. Ramadoss, founder of the PMK, an ally of the BJP. Ramadoss condemned the move, calling it a “blatant imposition” of Hindi on non-Hindi speakers. He emphasized that LIC serves a customer base that represents the linguistic diversity of India and that prioritizing Hindi over other languages was unacceptable. He reminded that institutions controlled by the central government should serve all sections of society, not just Hindi speakers.
This incident highlights ongoing tensions over the imposition of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking regions, particularly in southern India.
