Center of Excellence in Kannada: Prominent activists to meet CM

Following the State government’s move to shift the Center of Excellence for Classical Language in Kannada, currently functioning on the premises of Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in the city to Bengaluru, Kannada activists here have decided to take a delegation to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at the earliest.

At a meeting convened at Nrupathunga Kannada School, Ramakrishna Nagar in the city, Pa Mallesh said, a delegation would be taken to Bengaluru to meet the chief minister and explain to  him the significance of retaining the Center in Mysuru. 

Amendment

The delegation will also seek an amendment to the Indian Constitution on the language based regions in the State, to facilitate prominence to the language in the land, instead of English, as suggested by writer Panditharadhya. 

“I came across the photocopy of a letter written by the chief minister to union Human Resource Development minister Smriti Irani seeking Rs 23 crore for the Center of Excellence for Classical Language in Kannada,” said writer Horeyala Doreswamy, also condemning the recent High Court decision according permission to open English medium schools.

Kannada activist Nanjangud Shivashankar emphasised on staging a protest rally as a warning bell to the government. 

Another activist suggested to collect the signatures of prominent litterateurs like Chandrashekar Kambar, critic G H Nayak among others in protest against the government’s move.

He said that if Center is shifted to Bengaluru, it would meet the same fate as the Kanada Sahitya Parishat and akademies in the State capital.