NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Thursday said status quo would be maintained on a controversial circular on use of a third language in train nameboards, minutes after announcing its withdrawal following an Opposition furore in the Lok Sabha. He suggested that an all-party meeting be held to resolve the issue in the next session of Parliament.

Raising the matter during question hour, Braja Kishore Tripathy of the Biju Janata Dal read out the circular directing that names of trains be written in Hindi and English, besides in Tamil, in Tamil Nadu. This led to commotion as the members found the circular discriminatory and wanted the practice of using the name of the regional language in the respective States implemented in the entire country.

Protests from Bharatiya Janata Party members and from some MPs from Kerala and West Bengal resulted in an adjournment for over 30 minutes.

When the House reassembled, the Railway Minister announced the withdrawal of the circular and even offered a "rethink" on the matter taking everyone into confidence. Mr. Prasad left the House only to return within minutes. Seeking to clarify the position, he said though he had announced the withdrawal of the circular, it was issued under an Act of Parliament.

As the circular was based on a law adopted by Parliament for applying the three-language formula in Tamil Nadu, "we had to support it."

He said "how the three-language formula can be utilised to respect the languages of all States [has to be decided] because this is the law and I would not like to withdraw it."

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