The Regional Formula was also opposed by Hindi language supporters of Punjab as being harmful to their interests, and under the Hindi Raksha Samiti, campaigned to have it annulled. The Arya Samaj regarded the Regional Formula as worse than the Sachar Formula they had ignored earlier, as the Punjabi-speaking "region" did not retain the Hindi option in the area for parents who wished to "choose" it as their language, and started a "save Hindi" movement supported by Arya Samajis including newspaper editors and educational board members; government concessions to their ideological demands compromised the language aspect of the Formula. Languages had been communalised far before independence, when Hindi was selected to be the symbol of Hindu nationalism, regardless of whose actual native language it was. During the course of the Hindi movement over several months, several Sikh gurdwaras had been desecrated, and the new Congress government, which had commenced on 3 April 1957 and was headed by the influential Partap Singh Kairon as Chief Minister and former Akalis and current cabinet members Giani Kartar Singh and Gian Singh Rarewala who served under him, dealt with it harshly, though as a result of the protests, the Regional Formula was not implemented by Kairon.