Karnataka CM Yediyurappa Defies Shah On Hindi Move

BS Yeddyurappa Disagrees With Amit Shah’s Hindi Language

Bengaluru: In a first act of defiance from a BJP ruled state, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said on Monday that Hindi will not be imposed on the people or get a prime place and that Kannada will be the primary language and get all the support and encouragement.

BSY was reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s push for making Hindi a common language for the country.

In  a tweet, Yediyurappa said, “All official languages in our country are equal. However, as far as Karnataka is concerned, Kannada is the principal language. We will never compromise its importance and are committed to promote Kannada and our state’s culture.”

Rarely has BSY gone against BJP president Amit Shah whom he holds in awe.

The Karnataka Chief Minister’s tweet came soon after his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan strongly opposed the move to make Hindi a common language.

It also came soon after a tweet from actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan who tweeted to say the battle for the Tamil language would be “exponentially bigger” than the Jallikattu protest.

No “Shah, Sultan or Samrat” can break the promise made to protect our culture and Identity, the Makkal Needhi Maiam leader said.

“Now you are constrained to prove to us that India will continue to be a free country. You must consult the people before you make a new law or a new scheme,” Haasan tweeted.

On Saturday, Amit Shah had courted controversy when he said at the Hindi Diwas function that “It is a national responsibility that Hindi expands and prospers. Every language has its own importance. But it is absolutely essential that the entire country has one language that becomes the identity of the nation in the world. If there is any language that can tie the whole country in one thread, it is the most spoken language of Hindi.”

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