Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s tweet draws KDA's wrath

Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's tweet, taking a dig at activists of Kannada, has stirred a hornet's nest. The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has expressed its anguish via a letter.

She had tweeted about the opposition from Kannada activists to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's proposal to commence English-medium classes in government schools and merge schools with a low admission rate.

"Media always portrays a small & insignificant group of naysayers as ‘activists’ - these are usually attention seeking troublemakers who don’t care about education nor employment (sic)," read her tweet.

Several Twitter users have slammed her for the comments.

On Monday, KDA chairman S G Siddharamaiah, in a letter, expressed anguish over her tweet, terming Kannada activists as "insignificant" and "naysayers".

"I have no option, but to sympathise with your views on education, that is devoid of cultural and human values. It is but natural for people like you to simply equate education with employment, to wash your hands off by whimsically adopting a few government schools out of your CSR funds and inculcate unwanted English ambitions in their minds," the letter read.

It also directed her to visit villages, and spend some quality time with the deprived communities to understand the meaning of education in the context of their livelihood.

Kiran, for her part, said the matter is being politicised unnecessarily. "I never said don't learn Kannada. Neither did I say learn only English. I speak Kannada very well, and why would I speak against the language?" she said.