Politicians take up Devgn's Hindi national language assertion, protest in Karnataka
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Bengaluru: The language debate triggered by Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn calling Hindi the national language has now traversed from the film realm to be debated in the political realm, where former Karnatka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah strongly criticised the actor's assertion.
While backing Kannada actor Sudeep Sanjeev's remark that Hindi is not the national language, Janata Dal (Secular)'s HD Kumaraswamy called Devgn the mouthpiece of BJP's Hindi Nationalism.
Ajay Devgn blabbered as a mouthpiece of BJP's Hindi Nationalism of one nation, one tax, one language & one government," Kumaraswamy said in a tweet.
"Hindi was never and will never be our National Language. It is the duty of every Indian to respect the linguistic diversity of our country," Siddaramaiah tweeted.
Meanwhile, Kannada organisation, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, staged a flash protest in Mysuru Bank circle in Bengaluru and raised slogans against the actor.
Since no permission was obtained from the police prior to the protest, the agitators were taken into custody. They slammed the actor for putting out a tweet for Hindi disrespecting the local regional languages.
The protestors held the photographs of Ajay Devgn and raised slogans against him. The agitators explained that repeatedly north Indians are provoking people of Karnataka regarding imposition of Hindi.
Hindi movies are watched by Kannadigas and at a time when Kannada film industry is growing which is not being tolerated, one of the agitators told while being dragged away by the police.
T.A. Narayana Gowda, President of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike explained that due to the importance given to Hindi language in the constitution, Hindi-speaking people have developed a feudalistic approach towards other languages.
The statement of Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn is symbolic of Hindi feudalism. The provisions which give Hindi importance in the constitution have to be dropped, otherwise, this feudal attitude of Hindi-speaking people won't end. They will continue to dominate over regional languages, he explained.
IANS Input