Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Sep 14: Over the last few days, many Kannadigas have been raising their voices demanding service in Karnataka in Kannada lanaugage. Now they have come together to oppose Hindi Diwas celebration. Seeking service in Kannada particularly in banks, the social media had carried out a campaign, with hashtags #ServeInMyLanguage and #StopHindiImposition trending on Twitter.
In a series of tweets, former chief minister, Kumaraswamy, has expressed his resistance to the idea of celebrating Hindi Diwas.He has objected to forcible imposition of Hindi on people of other languages.
"In India, which is made of different languages, culture and traditions, Hindi is being imposed on the people of other languages through different ways. Today's #HindiDiwas is one such clandestine effort. Hindi Diwas represents linguistic arrogance, and hence is being resisted by Kannadigas who have self respect, he stated.
"Hindi is not the national language and our constitution did not coin the concept of Hindi as the national language. Stil, the effort to project Hindi as the national language of the country and to playing politics to achieve this means has been going on since long. Now it has reached a new level. Before people using different languages revolt against such efforts, imposition of Hindi should be stopped," he said.
Kumaraswamy pointed out that Hindi Diwas is being celebrated on September 14 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Bohar Rajendra Singh who fought to implement Hindi in the central government dealings. He wondered what is there for the people speaking other languages to celebrate either the birthday of either Rajendra Singh or Hindi becoming a language of administration.
Terming Hindi Diwas as a 'wasteful' effort, he demanded it to be scrapped. He also asked the central government, if it wants to go ahead with the celebration of Hindi Diwas, to also declare different days for celebrating all other languages including Kannada. He said that there are some confusing poits in articles 343, 344 and 345 of the Indian Constitution which seem to support Hindi. He asked the BJP, which is eager to ammend the constitution, to protect the self respect of othe languages by changing these articles.
"Like Hindi Diwas, the three-language new national education policy is a way to impose HIndi on us. Why can't the two-language policy be maintained? I would like to know which states having Hindi as their language are following three-language policy. The state government should not to accept NEP," he stated. He also discounted efforts being made to project Hindi as a matter of policy with nationalism, patriotism and Hindutwa. He termed this as an act of treason and said that measuring the level of patriotism on the basis of language one speaks as a challenge to national integration. He also said that Kannadigas who had ruled the state which stretched fromRiver Cauvery to River Godavari, are adventurous and have self respect. If they stand out against the efforts beingvmade to impose HIndi, he said, the conspirators will fail in their gameplan.
Kumaraswmy opined that imposing of Hindi is being termed by the concerned as learning the lanuguage. He said that learning can be by choice and not through imposition. "Imposition of a language should not be in such a way that it challenges the soul of the other lanuage and it should not pave way for the extinction of the other language. It should never be in such a way as to damage culture, diversity and integration of the country," he pointed out in his tweet.
Many other Twitteratis also echoed similar sentiments. Tamil Nadu has always been strongly opposing the prominence being given to Hindi.