Media Release

Bengaluru, Nov 12: Responding to recent media reports that Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leader T A Narayan Gowda and his team met Archbishop Dr Peter Machado of the Archdiocese of Bengaluru urging that prayers in churches be conducted in Kannada, president of Catholic Think Tank Committee, Bengaluru; public relations officer of Diocese of Mangalore and former president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy Roy Castelino has stated that no external interference will be accepted in deciding the language of religious services.

“Kannada is indeed the sovereign language of Karnataka — there is no dispute about that,” Castelino said in a statement.

“However, lakhs of people in the state speak other native languages such as Konkani, Tulu, Kodava, Byari, and Lambani. While respecting Kannada, it is also the responsibility of each linguistic community to preserve and promote their mother tongue, as guaranteed by the Constitution of India. The government too has extended various forms of support toward this,” he added.

Castelino noted that religion has played a vital role in preserving languages, citing the example of how Konkani has survived and thrived in Karnataka through the Christian community. “The state government has even established the Konkani Academy to promote the language,” he added.

He pointed out that within the Archdiocese of Bengaluru, prayers are already held in multiple languages including Kannada, English, Tamil, Malayalam, and Konkani. “The demand that prayers should be conducted only in Kannada may lead to future coercion, which we categorically oppose,” he said.

“We too raise our hands in support of Kannada. But it is we, and not others, who will decide the language of our liturgical prayers,” Castelino asserted.