Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday asked the Centre to ensure that signboards relating to central or state government facilities are written in the sequence of “mother tongue and state language, and then in Hindi and English”.

His direction came during Zero Hour after Trinamul Congress member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray urged the government to use Bengali signage along with Hindi and/or English at the upcoming Metro stations in Bengal.

“It is for the entire country. And for that matter, all government signboards in every state, belonging to central or state governments, should be in mother tongue and state language, and then in Hindi and English,” Naidu said.

“This should be the model. Otherwise, people would not be able to understand. I hope the government will take note of this and see to it that proper instructions are given to all the agencies concerned. It has to be a national policy. We are a free and independent country.”

Earlier, Ray had said the London Tube Railway Authority recently put up a signboard at its Whitechapel station in Bengali along with English because many Bengali-speaking people live around the locality.

Ray said: “It is not only recognition of the pride of Bengali language but this decision is also recognition of the 1,000-year-old Indian language, its dignity and its international glory.”

“Sir, I wish to apprise the Centre, through you, that there are many central government establishments in our state and they display signboards in English and Hindi; we do not have objection to that. There is no objection if the signboards are displayed in English or Hindi, but I request that the signboards should also be displayed in Bengali language along with English and/or Hindi.

“I also request the Centre through you, Sir, that the Metro railway stations which will come up in the future in Bengal may display the signboards in Bengali language along with English and/or Hindi.”

The treasury benches accepted the ruling from the Chair while the Opposition parties supported it. DMK leader Tiruchi Siva, too, welcomed the ruling.