Join us as we dive into Congress' push for Urdu as an official language in Karnataka, spearheaded by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. While the intention may be to foster inclusivity, many critics warn that this move could alienate other linguistic communities and disrupt the state's delicate social fabric. We explore the implications of this controversial initiative and its potential impact on Karnataka's diverse population. Will this be a step towards unity or division? Watch to find out!
#Karnataka #UrduLanguage #Congress #Siddaramaiah #LinguisticDiversity #SocialFabric #Inclusivity #LanguagePolitics #India #CulturalIdentity
#Karnataka #UrduLanguage #Congress #Siddaramaiah #LinguisticDiversity #SocialFabric #Inclusivity #LanguagePolitics #India #CulturalIdentity
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00:00Hello and welcome to this special broadcast on One India, where we are discussing the
00:04latest mandate or some are saying the latest diktat from the Karnataka government,
00:10Sitaramayya's government, on the use of Urdu language and the proficiency for the
00:16Anganwadi teachers in certain districts. Joining us on the broadcast is TV Mohandas Pai,
00:21Chairman of Arun Capital Partners. Mr. Pai, thank you so much for joining One India.
00:26Thank you. Mr. Pai, what impact do you think that this particular directive from Sitaramayya's
00:33government, the decision on mandating Urdu proficiency for Anganwadi teachers
00:39could have on Karnataka's linguistic unity? I think this goes against Karnataka's linguistic
00:46unity because the government has not done the same for others whose mother tongue is elsewhere.
00:50There are many people whose mother tongue is Tulu, Konkani, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Hindi and Telugu,
00:57etc. You're only mandating one language to appease a certain class of people, which is very wrong.
01:03And I think that should be withdrawn by the government. But there is a problem that the
01:06government has to tackle. And that is true. It is true that there are a large number of
01:11children who speak only Urdu. And the mother tongue, the young children, they probably not
01:16learned any other language because that is their mother tongue. And when they come to Anganwadi,
01:20there has to be some communication. So maybe the government can also say instead of mandating
01:27that in these areas, spoken knowledge of these languages is preferable or something
01:34like that, just to make sure that the Anganwadi workers can communicate with the small children
01:39and talk to them. Because when children are three years, four years, they don't talk other languages.
01:45So there's a problem. We have to solve the problem. But this is not the way to solve the
01:49problem. This is typical of a government which takes a hammer and hammers everybody and has raised
01:54a lot of controversy all over the place. Why should it be only Urdu? Why can't it be Telugu?
01:59Why can't it be Tamil? Now all the people who love Kannada will say that it should be only
02:04in Kannada, which is wrong because mother tongue is not necessarily Kannada.
02:10For example, I speak Kannada. I give speeches in Kannada. I like Kannada. I'm a resident here.
02:16I'm a Kannadiga. My mother tongue is Konkani. I speak Hindi. I speak English. And that is the
02:21language that we all pick up as we grow. So I think they must not ruffle any feathers,
02:26withdraw that and say it is preferred. But they have to also solve the problem.
02:30And that's important. If you're in Bangalore in a Tamil dominated area, the children will speak
02:35only Tamil. So the Anganadi workers should know some languages. If you are in an area where North
02:41Indians are there, or people from Bengal are there or somewhere, they will speak only the local
02:46their language. But there's a problem that has to be solved. That we must acknowledge. But this is
02:50not the way. And that's why this has to be withdrawn to keep our unity together in Karnataka.
02:57Absolutely. Mr. Pai, talking about you touched upon several aspects and one of them was
03:02the appeasement to a particular community. If we could delve deeper here, what
03:07ulterior motive do you find or do you foresee for the Sitaramayya government behind this particular
03:13specific language choice? Well, I don't know whether there's any ulterior motive because I
03:19don't know data to make any accusations. I don't want to say that. But what I would say is this
03:24government has been accused of minority appeasement to a large extent because we are seeing that
03:30wherever people of the Muslim community riot and create violence, the police go very
03:36very soft on them. They arrest other people who complain. It happened near Mandya recently, right?
03:42When they were stoning on the Ganesha. You can't stone the Ganesha procession.
03:45You can't stone any religious procession. That's unacceptable. The people who are stoned
03:49will be caught and put into jail. And people are saying that the popular front of
03:56India people from Kerala, Malappuram have come there, infiltrated and they have to find out
04:01because there's a safety issue. Ordinary Karnatikas will not riot or will not do anything else.
04:06And Mandya is a Karnatika stronghold, right? And I think the government is going soft on
04:12all these criminal elements. They should not go soft on criminal elements of any community.
04:17But the Home Minister and the other ministers are going soft, trying to brush it away just for
04:21appeasement, which is very very wrong. We also saw that one minister of the cabinet trying to give
04:26away some valuable land to a minority organization in Chamrathpet, which has now gone to court.
04:32And this is the government that started this Thippu Jayanti. Thippu is a tyrant.
04:38Thippu was a tyrant. He was a jihadi. He was a killer. He was a butcher. He has destroyed Konkani
04:43temples. I'm a Konkani. I'm a minority protected by the constitution. He's destroyed the Konkani
04:49temples. He killed a huge number of Spodawas. He marched 20,000 Mangalore Catholics from
04:55Mangalore to Srirangapatna. And then only 10,000 survived when they went back, right? He has
05:01committed crimes against people of the state. And he was very clear that he wanted to convert
05:06everybody. He wrote about it. Thippu Na Kanasu. He wrote about the book. He was very clear about
05:11what he wanted to do. He's not the kind of figure that you must promote. Because the Congress party
05:16wants to promote Thippu Jayanti is fine because it's a communal party. It's a political party.
05:21It's a communal party. But government cannot do it. Government has to take care of all interests.
05:27Government cannot do it. Government is supposed to take care of all interests and not take the
05:32side of some religious minority which they're doing. For example, the Konkani community in
05:37Karnataka is discriminated. We don't get the same benefit that Muslim gets being minorities,
05:42even though we are a linguistic minority. But the constitution, the Kodavas are discriminated.
05:47The Thuluvas are discriminated. We're all minorities. There may be only some 10-12 lakh
05:52Konkanis. 15% of Karnataka population, that's one crore people are Muslims. But we are the real
05:58minority, right? But we are being discriminated in many areas because we don't get all the benefits
06:04that the Muslims get. And that is clearly a case of minority, religious appeasement that this
06:10government is doing in a very big way. For example, they gave money for Christians, a huge
06:15amount of money for Christians, the Muslims, the budget. But did they give anything for the Kodavas?
06:20Did they give anything for the Konkanis? Did they give anything for the Thulus? No,
06:24they did not do anything. Coming to the specific point, sir. Absolutely, absolutely. Given the
06:30essential role of the Anganwadi workers that they play in community outreach, do you think
06:35that language should be a criterion in their recruitment? And if so, should Kannada also have
06:41been given the equal importance? Look, Kannada should be given equal importance in Anganwadi
06:47and government schools in the state. On that there is no dispute. Okay? Okay. Because it's a state
06:52language. Right. And my view is everybody who lives in the state, whether you're born in the
06:59state or you come from outside, should learn Kannada to speak, converse with people because
07:04it is a way of showing respect for the local community where you are. True, true. I found that a
07:09North Indian lady who wrote that thing, if North Indians go away from Bangalore, Bangalore will
07:14get very offensive and very disturbing. That shows arrogance, lack of respect for the local community
07:20wherever you are. If I go stay in Bengal, I should learn Bengali to converse the Bengalis. I go stay
07:25in Chennai, I must learn Tamil. It's a way of showing respect to the people where I live.
07:31I've come from outside to a place where I'm enjoying the benefits paid for by the taxpayers
07:36who live there and build the state. It's fine. We are one country. We are one country. We can
07:41go stay anywhere, work anywhere. But we must respect the local culture, local sentiments.
07:45Now for many of these North Indian students, people from outside Karnataka to say,
07:49we will not learn Kannada. We only know English. We will not speak Kannada. I lived here 20 years.
07:54It's obnoxious. It's very obnoxious and shows lack of respect. And whenever we live in a
08:01community, we must become part of the community because we are living there. That's what human
08:06beings should do. So we must have the ability to converse in Kannada. Nobody is saying that
08:12you must write Kannada, you must do this. No, that is not correct. But you must converse,
08:16you must show respect, participate there and let us accept it. The state language is Kannada
08:23and that's fine. Similarly, the state government also should show respect to people who don't
08:29necessarily read Kannada. They should show respect. So they should show proper respect.
08:34That's why the three-language formula is the best formula for India.
08:37Right.
08:38Because we have a business language English, we have the state language Kannada,
08:42we have a language Hindi because we go all across and people in Tamil Nadu and states like Tamil
08:50Nadu who say they will not have Hindi are making a big mistake because they're depriving their
08:55people of a language which can help them get jobs and live in other parts of India.
08:59One final question, sir, to address the elephant in the room. Do you think that this move from the
09:03Siddharamayya government, if I may ask, is an outright politically motivated move?
09:10From all angles, it looks like that because this party has a history of Muslim appeasement
09:15and it looks like that because if they had, it should have circulated to say
09:19that they should also know other languages like Konkani, like Tulu, like Kodawa,
09:27and like let's say Tamil and Telugu in areas where there are children of these communities,
09:34I would have supported them. Only to say we would do in certain things, that's the wrong thing to
09:38do. Why are you targeting only one group and one language? We speak multiple languages. But the
09:45point remains, in Ayyanani work, Ayyanani worker has to converse with children in the language
09:50the children understand, not what you understand. These are all young children, they have not
09:53learned any language. They speak the language at home. Yes, they will pick up your language.
09:58Right.
09:58Keep on teaching them in Kannada, they speak up the language. They know. Children pick up very well.
10:02Yes, yes.
10:06That also is the real issue which needs to be addressed. You must admit that.
10:09Absolutely, sir. That's the beauty of this country also because such diversity comes
10:13through languages because that's what is a differentiating yet a unifying factor.
10:17And tampering and tinkering with that social fabric, I think, shouldn't be done.
10:22Mr. Pai, thank you so much. Steve Mohandas Pai there,
10:25chairman of the Arun Capital Partners, speaking to One India. Thank you, sir.