The southern states have traditionally resisted the use of Hindi, seeing it as a cultural imposition from the north
Bangalore | As the country marked Hindi Diwas on Saturday, Mr. Amit Shah had tweeted suggesting a wider use of Hindi as a common language. The party chief Amit Shah pushed for popularising the use of Hindi across the country, which has revived the decades-old uniformity versus diversity debate. The southern states have traditionally resisted the exclusive use of Hindi seeing it as a cultural imposition by north Indians. This time, the opposition Congress and the Left have also joined the fray.
“As far as Karnataka is concerned Kannada is the principal language. We will never compromise its importance”, Mr. Yediyurappa said in a tweet, reflecting the popular sentiment in the state.
Karnataka regularly witnesses the assertion of identity by pro-Kannada organizations. In fact growing demand for job reservations for locals, the new CM recently said Kannadigas must get lions to share of Jobs in the State.
Kerala Chief minister Pinaryi Vijayan was among the first to speak up against Mr. Shah’s view, claims that “Hindi’s unifies our country is absurd”.
BS Yediyurappa said “We will never compromise its importance and committed to promoting Kannada and our state’s culture. Even prime minister spoke on the floor of the house that all regional languages will be respected”.
Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said “Hindi will not boss over other regional languages of the country. The three-language formula is accepted by us all”.
Currently, in Karnataka Konkani, Tula, Kodava and Beary are also spoken apart from Kannada.
The Chief Minister’s statement is being seen as an effort to negate the opposition’s stand as the BJP was against linguistic freedom.
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