The language row in Karnataka escalated sharply on December 27 after members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike held violent protests across state capital Benglauru, including the Kempegowda International Airport and other top-notch business and shopping complexes located in the city like MG Road, Brigade Road, Lavelle Road and St Marks Road. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike is a right-wing group that is pushing for the use of Kannada.
The signboards of shops and businesses using the English language faced damage by the KRV members, who called such signages as “undermining the official language of Karnataka that is Kannada”. Police have taken action and have held several of the protesters into preventive custody, including KRV convener TA Narayana Gowda.
“As per rule, it is mandatory for 60 per cent of sign boards and name plates to be in Kannada. We are not against business but if you are doing business in Karnataka then you have the responsibility to respect our language. If you are ignorant of Kannada, or put Kannada letters in small (print), we will not let you operate here,” he told reporters.
Several videos of the violence have gone viral online, including one from a hotel. The video showed women and men, some in yellow and red scarfs (the colours of the Kannada flag) tearing down English signage.
In another video, we can see a man attacking the English signboard of a salon and spa, as truckloads of men in red and yellow scarfs drive past. A different video has men waving red and yellow flags protesting outside an Airtel store; one man is defacing the sign by spraying black paint over the shop’s red signboard, which is in English.
The KRV demands the immediate implementation of the order by the city’s civic body, which directs all businesses to have 60 per cent of their signs in Kannada. Once the order was out, it was followed by a meeting with the group.
BBMP chief Tushar Giri Nath voicing the deadline said that the commercial stores in the civic body’s jurisdiction have till February 28 to comply, failing which they could face legal action, including suspension of business licences.
The language row again finds its way to the centre stage after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah commented in October saying, “everyone living in this state should learn to speak Kannada”.
“We are all Kannadigas. People speaking different languages have settled in here and everyone living in this state should learn to speak Kannada.”
In his previous tenure too Mr Siddaramaiah had pushed for the wider use of the local language. One can witness that it was in his previous tenure when Hindi names of Bengaluru metro stations were targeted and covered with tape.
