JOIN USComing up: Campaign for Kannada in all ATMs
Last Sunday’s event, when Kannada was removed entirely from a government ceremony in central Karnataka, continues to create ripples.
Only Hindi was used in the backdrop at a Rapid Action Force foundation ceremony, attended by Amit Shah, home minister.
Kannada lovers protested on Twitter, and that created a storm of 35,000 tweets in less than four hours. A Kannada hashtag was trending nationally, and the English variant trended in Karnataka for eight hours.
The campaign was initiated by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, says state organisation secretary Arun Javagal. “Though the event was a trigger, people’s problems are not restricted to it,” he says.
The three-language policy created by the Central government is being used only to promote Hindi. Even Kannadigas who used to defend Hindi were upset about Kannada going missing from the banners and plaques, he says.
The activist groups are garnering support for a campaign for the scrapping of rules that favour Hindi speakers in bank jobs. The domicile clause has been altered, and the number of bank employees who speak or understand Kannada has sharply declined, they allege.
Ganesh Chetan, convenor of Kannada Grahakara Koota, says the Constitution privileges Hindi, and must be amended if India wants to ensure linguistic equality. “Under the Official Language Act, there is no compulsion for Kannada to be displayed anywhere. It only mandates communication in English or Hindi. Unless this situation changes, we have to keep protesting for every board, which is not possible,” he says.
Ganesh Chetan is also a member of a pan-India organisation called Campaign for Language Equality and Rights (CLEAR), which is working to end such discrimination.
Politicians use Kannada when it suits them and then defame Kannada activists, says Raghu MP, coordinator of a group called Karunadu Yodharu. “The notion of ‘one India, one language’ makes politicians neglect our languages,” he says, pointing out that Kannada has been around for at least 2,000 years.
With 22 official languages in the country, each of them should be given due importance, he urges.
What’s ahead?
Arun Javagal says the goal is to get equal status for all languages. Coming up next is a social media campaign against the removal of Kannada across ATMs in Karnataka. “RBI has zero interest in our languages,” he adds.
Challans at banks are also only in English and Hindi, says Raghu. “We will continue to raise our voice to make banking services available in Kannada. We also want jobs in BMRCL and Bescom to be given to Kannadigas,” he adds.
Raghu adds the demand for the two-language policy will also continue. “English is a link language to the world, and we demand that Kannada be recognised,” he says, adding that many schools wrongly teach Hindi by describing it as the ‘national language.’
Tejasvi Surya, where are you?
Many netizens wondered where MP Tejasvi Surya had disappeared when the language storm was brewing. The BJP leader had tweeted, not so long ago, ‘If official boards in Karnataka have Hindi in exclusion to Kannada, I will be the first to protest.’
What happened
When Amit Shah laid the foundation stone for a Rapid Action Force unit in Bhadravathi on Sunday, the backdrop was fully in Hindi, making no provision for Kannada or English.
Rapid Action Force is part of the Central Reserve Police, and is used for crowd control. Only Hindi and English were inscribed on the plaques.
Thousands of Kannadigas tweeted in protest, using the hashtags #NoToHindiSlavery and #HindiGulamagariBeda.