After 'Hindi imposition' criticism, LIC says bug caused portal to not show dual language option

CHENNAI: Hours after severe criticism from leaders in non-Hindi speaking states, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) clarified that a technical glitch on their site had prevented users from accessing their webpages in dual languages. The website had read “all Hindi” with Hindi, not English, being set as the default language.

In a post on social media platform X, the insurance major confirmed that the bug in their portal was fixed now. "Our Corporate website http://licinida.in was not shuffling language page due to some technical problem, issue resolved now website available in English/Hindi language. Inconvenience caused deeply regretted," the LIC said.

Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had posted a screenshot of the LIC of India webpage showing Hindi on his X account and said, "The LIC website has been reduced to a propaganda tool for Hindi imposition. Even the option to select English is displayed in Hindi!" he criticised.

Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, PMK founder S Ramadoss, and State Congress chief K Selvaperunthagai too issued sharply worded statements, demanding that the bilingual language options be restored.