Twitter campaign for Tulu as official language gets good response

Demanding official language status to Tulu language, various Tulu organisations had initiated Twitter campaign, which received an overwhelming response.

With the hashtag #TuluOfficialinKA_KL, the campaign commenced on Sunday morning from 6 am till midnight. Jai Tulunad and other associations of the Tulu language have taken up the campaign to urge both Kerala and Karnataka to declare Tulu as an official language. The campaign also aimed to urge the government to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Supporting the campaign, former MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik in his tweet said “Let’s all be proud Tuluvas with our distinct identity, our unique culture, our entrepreneurship and all our all-inclusive live and let live philosophy of co-existence with people speaking many languages..”

While DK MP who is also BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel in a tweet in Tulu said “I support the demand for official status to Tulu language. The efforts and talks are on to include Tulu in the eighth schedule. A few technical issues need to be sorted out. All efforts will be made to announce Tulu as the official language during our tenure itself.”

MLA Vedavyasa Kamath in his tweet in Tulu said “Tulu language is the mother tongue. All of us want Tulu to get official language status.” While Mangalore City North MLA Dr Y Bharath Shetty said “Tulu, the language of Coastal Karnataka has rich Oral Tradition, Historical and Cultural Significance. With recent efforts from many Tuluvas, the Tulu script is revived and rendered. We have given representation to Chief of Karnataka to make Tulu as an official language in Karnataka.”

District-in-Charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary in his tweet said "Tulu should get official language status. I also support the demand of the people of Tulunadu to get special status to Tulu. Tulu is not only a language, it is a culure and tradition. It has a history of its own..."

Supporting the campaign, Keerthan R Kotian tweeted “Tulu is one of the ancient Dravidian languages and is spoken by the people of Mangaluru, Udupi of Karnataka and Kasaragod of Kerala. We being Tuluvas have our feelings towards the Tulu language and culture. It is our right to have Tulu as an official language.” Vijeth Rai tweeted “Tulu has its own Calender, Own Cultures, Own script...Tamil Poet Mamulnar described the beauty of Tulu in his poem..Today also Tamil scholars call this region Tulunad with love and respect. But Karnataka and Kerala govt try to kill Tulu #TuluOfficialinKA_KL.”

More than 2.25 lakh tweets were tweeted in support of the campaign by evening.