LIC calls default Hindi on website ‘technical issue’ after outrage in Tamil Nadu

The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) website is facing intense criticism for setting Hindi as the default language on its homepage. This move has sparked outrage, particularly in Tamil Nadu, where political leaders are voicing their concerns about Hindi imposition and the difficulty many users are facing in navigating the site.
The website’s default display in Hindi has raised accessibility issues for users who are not familiar with the language. Even more concerning for these users is that the option to switch to English is itself written in Hindi, making it harder for people who don’t understand the language to change the settings.
Chief Minister MK Stalin also voiced his opposition, accusing LIC of becoming a “propaganda tool for Hindi imposition.” Highlighting the impact on India’s linguistic diversity, Stalin said, “LIC grew with the patronage of all Indians. How dare it betray the majority of its contributors?” He demanded the immediate rollback of what he termed “linguistic tyranny.”
Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said, “The Union Government has not yet understood that anything, including Hindi, cannot be developed by forcefully imposing it. Authoritarianism will not last long.”
AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) called it a deliberate act of Hindi imposition. In a social media post, he said, ” It is condemnable that the central government is trying to ​​impose Hindi in whichever way possible. In India, which is diverse in everything from language, culture, politics etc, imposing uniformity is an act that affects the balance of the country. It is not acceptable.”

AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan said, “We have been repeatedly saying, there are deliberate and intentional attempts to impose Hindi. This starts from the central government run agencies. Earlier it was the post office, railways and now it’s LIC. We strongly condemn this. If they continue further with this, there will be serious consequences.”
Kerala Congress too shared a post on X criticising LIC’s move and said, “What was wrong with the older website where English was the default language? What do citizens from non-Hindi speaking states do @LICIndiaForever?”
The controversy has sparked a wider debate on social media, with the hashtag #StopHindiImposition trending.
In response to the outrage, LIC issued a statement addressing the issue: “Our Corporate website licindia.in was not shuffling language pages due to some technical problem. The issue has been resolved, and the website is now available in both English and Hindi. We deeply regret any inconvenience caused.”

Narayanan Thirupathy, Vice President of Tamil Nadu BJP said,”They have given an explanation that it happened because of a technical issue. We have put this behind us. But calling this linguistic tyranny is silly politics. I’m glad LIC has taken it back. This is not a problem created by the union government. There was no order or anything. It happened because of a technical problem.”
Despite the clarification, the alleged growing push for Hindi as the country’s dominant language has been a point of contention in Tamil Nadu for years. Deputy Chief Minister Udhaynidhi Stalin recently called on the people of the state to keep Tamil names for their children to ward off Hindi imposition.
MK Stalin also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing concern over the celebration of Hindi Month in non-Hindi speaking states. He argued that such celebrations are seen as an attempt to belittle other languages in a multilingual nation. Stalin suggested that events promoting Hindi in non-Hindi speaking regions should be avoided to prevent further alienation of other languages.