Kumaraswamy hits out at BJP on Hindi Diwas celebrations

Amid the protests and anger , Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Wednesday his government is bringing in a legislation to make Kannada “mandatory” in the state.

Former Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government over its decision to celebrate ‘Hindi Diwas’ which he termed as an attempt to “impose the same as the national language”.

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs stage a protest against the celebration of Hindi Diwas, utside Karnataka assembly in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (PTI)

Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14 every year to mark the day the constituent assembly adopted the language as an official language.

“Union home minister (Amit Shah) repeatedly trying to impose Hindi is a hidden agenda and we are protesting against this. They want to celebrate this Hindi Diwas and we are vehemently opposed to this. After 75 years of independence, there are many languages spoken in this country in different parts. The Union is trying to push ‘one nation-one language’.... Since they have failed to resolve the problems of the people, they are raking up such emotional issues,” Kumaraswamy said.

Amid the protests and anger , Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Wednesday his government is bringing in a legislation to make Kannada “mandatory” in the state.

There has been stiff opposition in the past when it comes to language, especially under the BJP rule which has made no attempt to tell its own high command on the opposition to the imposition in Karnataka.

With assembly elections barely a year away, the language issue is likely to be used to mobilise support against the BJP.

“This is a union of states where there are different cultures and languages and there is absolutely no opportunity for imposing another language. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also said that all our mother tongue’s regional languages , they are all our national languages,” Bommai said.

“Till now we have only said that Kannada is compulsory...there are committees for it but there is no form of law to implement this. For the first time, we are bringing a law,” the chief minister said.

He added that there will be programmes to help people from other places learn Kannada under the new law and also provide protection to the language and help it grow. The chief minister said that under the National Education Police (NEP), Karnataka, has already introduced teaching of professional courses like engineering in its syllabus and almost completed one semester of the same.

However, not all from the BJP had similar views as the party’s national general secretary, CT Ravi, said that the saffron outfit is using language to bring people together and not widen the rift.

“We will celebrate (Kannada) Rajyotsava in Delhi and celebrate the languages of others here (Karnataka) as well. We are not going to discriminate with language and will make India stronger with it. We will not allow anyone to use the language to break people,” Ravi said.

On whether the BJP will still continue to celebrate ‘Hindi Diwas’, Ravi said that this has been the custom since the time of Independence.

“Hindi Diwas has been celebrated since 1947. You (media) should ask this question to (Jawaharlal) Nehru, (BR) Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Not Atal ji, (LK) Advani ji, (Narendra) Modi, Amit Shah or me,” he said.

Kannada activists have been demanding for many years now for full implementation of Kannada as the administrative language.Though chief minister, did not specify if it’s in the context of administrative language or its scope is beyond it, according to sources, he seemed to be referring to the proposed ‘Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill’, aimed at further strengthening the efforts to give primacy to Kannada.

With PTI inputs