LIC blames ‘technical glitch’ after Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin claims Hindi imposition on website

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin accused LIC of acting as a proganda tool for Hindi imposition

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on November 19 accused state-run insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of acting as a propaganda tool for Hindi imposition after the website displayed text in Hindi.

Posting a screenshot of the LIC webpage, Stalin wrote in a post on X: “The LIC website has been reduced to a propaganda tool for Hindi imposition. Even the option to select English is displayed in Hindi!”

“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,” the Tamil Nadu CM added.

Echoing his sentiments, Dr S Ramadoss, Founder, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), also said, “A sudden preference for Hindi alone is not acceptable when all the language speaking people in India are customers of LIC. Even consumer goods worth Rs 10 are sent to Tamil Nadu for sale, the name of which is printed in either Tamil or English. But LIC, which has a huge customer base in Tamil Nadu, has only the main page of its website in Hindi and has created an environment where they have to search and choose English language services, which is an insult to Tamil Nadu customers.”

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, too, flayed the LIC for making it all Hindi and said the revamped website was currently unusable for people who did not know that language.

"The language change option on the website is also in Hindi and is not possible to find it. It is reprehensible that the central government is going to any extent in imposing Hindi," he said on X.

LIC, however, has said that a “technical problem” led to the website’s switch to Hindi in Tamil Nadu and clarified that it worked on resolving the issue at the earliest.

In a post on X later in the evening, LIC regretted the inconvenience to the users of its website and cited technical glitches that stopped the shuffling of the language.

“Our corporate website was not shuffling the language page due to some technical problem. The issue is resolved now, and the website is available in English/Hindi language. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” the clarification issued by LIC read.

(With PTI inputs)