Chennai: Former Governor and senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan has strongly objected to the name ‘Kartavya Dwar’ inscribed on the entrance gate of the Trichy Zonal Railway Manager’s office, urging Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to immediately install a name plate in Tamil instead.

The entrance gate of the newly constructed Trichy Zonal Railway Office currently displays the name ‘Kartavya Dwar’ in Hindi, alongside translations in Tamil and English. However, the prominence given to the Hindi name, which translates to ‘entrance gate of duty’ in Tamil, has drawn criticism for being incomprehensible to the local population.

Hindi imposition row: Tamilisai’s appeal to Railway Minister

In a post addressed to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Tamilisai Soundararajan urged him to instruct the railway authorities to properly place the Tamil language translation and ensure that the Tamil language board is displayed appropriately. She pointed out that due to mistakes made by some officials, the central BJP government is being unnecessarily blamed for trying to impose Hindi in Tamil Nadu.

Her post stated, “Honourable @AshwiniVaishnaw kindly instruct the @GMSRailway to properly place our language Tamil translation and place the Tamil language board properly, for the mistakes done by some officials central government is unnecessarily blamed as trying to impose hindi in Tamilnadu..”

Earlier criticism from CPM MP Venkatesan

Prior to Tamilisai’s objection, Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan from the Marxist Communist Party had also criticized the naming. In a post on X, he said, “The Southern Railway has named the entrance gate of the newly constructed Trichy Zonal Railway Office as ‘Kartavya Dwar’ in Hindi. ‘Kartavya Dwar’ means ‘entrance gate of duty’ in Tamil. The only current duty of the BJP government is ‘imposing Hindi’. Southern Railway should immediately remove the Hindi name and name it in Tamil.”