In a state like Karnataka, where language has been a deeply emotional issue, the recent mandate by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government to make proficiency in Urdu a criterion for Anganwadi teachers in Mudigere and Chikkamagaluru has stirred a fresh wave of controversy.
The decision, which has already sparked protests and political outcry, not only threatens to alienate a section of the state's population but also risks further damaging the delicate social fabric of Karnataka.
#KarnatakaPolitics #Siddaramaiah #UrduLanguage #SocialFabric #LanguagePolitics #CulturalIdentity #RegionalUnity #Inclusion #CommunityRelations #EducationPolicy #KarnatakaEducation #LanguageDebate #SocialHarmony #StatePolitics #DiversityMatters
~HT.97~PR.152~ED.194~
The decision, which has already sparked protests and political outcry, not only threatens to alienate a section of the state's population but also risks further damaging the delicate social fabric of Karnataka.
#KarnatakaPolitics #Siddaramaiah #UrduLanguage #SocialFabric #LanguagePolitics #CulturalIdentity #RegionalUnity #Inclusion #CommunityRelations #EducationPolicy #KarnatakaEducation #LanguageDebate #SocialHarmony #StatePolitics #DiversityMatters
~HT.97~PR.152~ED.194~
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Siddharth Ramaiah has just said Muslim populated if there is a major Muslim population then the
00:06teachers must know Urdu and they should be proficient in it. The same point of time when
00:11you are making it mandatory when you are imposing Urdu there can be a backlash just like if you are
00:17imposing Hindi in Tamil Nadu there can be a backlash when you are imposing Urdu mandating it
00:22you can inspire a language inspire people to learn. Is there a vote bank politics also attached to it
00:28how will it how people will respond to it? Urdu is a great language, Arabic is a great
00:32language, Sanskrit is a great language, Tamil is a great language. It is less about languages
00:36and more about the intention which is behind it and if people are suspecting if there is a vote
00:42ban politics if there is an appeasement politics they cannot be blamed. How will it impact the
00:46people who are looking for jobs who want to become government teachers? These languages
00:50shouldn't be enforced shouldn't be thrust upon or shouldn't be thrust down the throat of any
00:55state for that matter. Hello and welcome I'm Nageen Singh this is One India and today we are
01:02joined by Rahul Eswar he is an activist he is also an author and Rahul today we are going to ask you
01:11about Karnataka government what Siddha Ramaiah has just said he's saying that all these Anganwadi
01:17teachers who are part of the Karnataka government if they are working in an area that is
01:23Muslim populated if there is a major Muslim population significant Muslim population then
01:30the teachers must know Urdu and they should be proficient in it. So how do you see this step
01:37in a state which is you know Kannadas are there Kannada is being spoken there and now this new
01:44rule or this sort of comment how do you rate it what do you see is there an agenda or how do you
01:50rate this entire conversation? Two submissions first of all we as a nation have decided to follow
01:56three language policy in the earlier 50s and 60s itself where we will learn our native language
02:01whether it be Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi or whatever language then we will have Hindi
02:06as a national link language which Mahatma Gandhi visualized then we will have English as a global
02:10language. So it's very good to know more languages but when somebody is mandating something it
02:15becomes a natural problem for example in Madigeri and Chikkamangaluru where these spaces where they
02:20have decided to enforce it it is around 31.94% Muslim community population. So this can create
02:28some kind of a fissure in the social fabric where some suspicion will be raised and what about the
02:33other 70% is a natural question people will ask. You can definitely say Urdu is a beautiful
02:38language you know I even though I'm not a scholar I know a bit bits of Urdu and I've heard a lot of
02:42Kavalis in it I'm a huge fan of Urdu or the Shayanis in it at the same point of time when you are
02:46making it mandatory when you are imposing Urdu there can be a backlash just like if you are
02:52imposing Hindi in Tamil Nadu there can be a backlash when you are imposing Urdu mandating it
02:57you can inspire a language you inspire people to learn that's the reason why Mahatma Gandhi sent
03:02his son across to my home state Kerala and Tamil Nadu almost 100 years back to inspire us to learn
03:07Hindi more. He started the Hindi Prajara Sabhas. I would request Siddharav IIT to start Urdu Prajara
03:12Sabhas or Urdu community clubs and allocate resources and funds to it but making it mandatory
03:18can create a problem rather we should be focusing on promoting a classic language called Kannada
03:23which is a beautiful language one of the ancient Ravidian languages we have. We should be focused
03:27on promoting Tamil which is one of the oldest languages in the world rightly pointed out by
03:31our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. So this move can backfire this move can cause suspicion
03:36this move can cause fissures among communities itself. And especially in a state like Karnataka
03:42where Kannada people speak Kannada and then Hindi is also something that people resisted
03:49and instead of Hindi asking for Urdu as a language to be given priority so will this
03:56really bring a clash among people among the Karnatakis who would have this question for sure
04:03that why if we are not even a pro-Hindi in that way then why Urdu suddenly you know becoming
04:11is there a vote bank politics also attached to it how how will it how people will respond to it?
04:16See let us be very honest about it we should we are a pluralistic nation we should be as inclusive
04:21as possible Hindu Muslim Christian unity or non-believers unity should definitely be there
04:26that's a given I mean there is no debate about that so we should have that unity at the same
04:30point of time that unity should not come at the cost of one community or the cost of
04:35you know over pampering of one community. For example as per 2011 census nearly 10.83
04:41percentage of Karnataka is speaking Urdu as their mother tongue. See they definitely have a good
04:45speaking Urdu speaking they can learn from their home they can learn from their languages
04:50shouldn't the government be promoting Kannada as a common language for people who are in Karnataka
04:56and there have been even protests even when the Hindi signboard scheme there have been
05:00hardline Karnataka groups which I respectfully differ differ they have been smashing the
05:05Hindi boards they have been blackening the Hindi boards so when even Hindi which is a
05:10national language even promoted by the father of the Mahatma Gandhi has such kind of a backlash
05:16imposing Urdu or mandating Urdu can become an issue that's the reason why Urdu is a great
05:20language Arabic is a great language Sanskrit is a great language Tamil is a great language it is
05:24less about languages and more about the intention which is behind it and if people are suspecting
05:30if there is a vote ban politics if there is an appeasement politics they cannot be blamed.
05:35Exactly like if if this is the mandate that they have given if they make it mandatory
05:41in that sense how will it impact the people who are looking for jobs the people of Karnataka
05:47if this is one of the rules that is brought in how will it impact the people who are looking
05:52for jobs who want to become government teachers. See let us be very honest about this English is
05:56not our language it is because the British won the world that they were forced to learn English
06:01had the Germans and the Nazis won the world we may have learned German or we may have learned Spanish
06:06or Portuguese or Dutch but right now English is a global reality it is an absolute need when we
06:11take a zoom meeting it is written in English that it is a zoom meeting so let us understand the
06:16reality of the world second yes we need to have a cultural connect we need to have rules of course
06:20in our own personal homes for example I am a person who has learned the Sanskrit when I grew
06:25up but that is not mandated it was given to me in my home city similarly such Urdu can be inspired
06:30in our Muslim community Muslim brothers homes they can definitely teach and inspire but when
06:35a state officially decides to impose it and make it that definitely will become an issue obviously
06:41if people are criticizing it you know they cannot be blamed that's the reason why Kannada should be
06:45promoted in Karnataka where Kannada language the great you know Lord Basaveshwara or Basavanna
06:50as we call you know so many other cultural icons are there so Kannada literature should be promoted
06:55Urdu is there Telugu speaking population is around eight percentage there we Malayalis I am from
07:00Kerala we Malayalis are around say two percentage there hardly a bit of Marathi speaking there so if
07:05tomorrow unfortunately or fortunately a Malayali speaking you know space comes will you mandate
07:11that Malayali you should absolutely learn Malayalam to become a Sankara Vastu teacher
07:14or say Koduva so or Kongani so please remember these language shouldn't be imposed shouldn't
07:20be thrust upon or shouldn't be thrust down the throat of any state for that matter.
07:26You think there will be a massive outrage because of this because ultimately it's going to you know
07:32impact the job opportunities of the locals or the people with the dome missile that they have
07:37the Karnatakis so do you think there can be a major protest or
07:44I hope people resist to these things and I would request our Muslim brothers to also
07:48come forward and give a position saying that we can teach our own kids in our own homes you know
07:54we are also teaching them Kannada we are also making them learn English because these are all
07:58reality when we come to Bangalore we know a bit of Kannada because you know that is how the local
08:03flavor is so I would request them not to fall into these kind of appeasement kind of a stuff
08:09rather say what do we actually need we actually need schools we actually need you know more of
08:14aganwadis we actually need English education which is a must for the modern world we actually need
08:19schools so give them something solid not you know hand out some kind of a dole and hand out some
08:24kind of a trivia so that you can be wooed in one sense or the other I hope no please do take please
08:31learn about the Kannada history please learn this more please remember that this is a must
08:36Urdu should not come at the cost of Kannada I mean that's a given Urdu should not be coming
08:41at the cost of Kannada because we are living or they are living in Karnataka the language of the
08:46land is very important just like the law of the land because language conveys a culture that
08:51language of the land is absolutely needed and one example I can give in Kerala we are having
08:56a 27 percentage Muslim community they are happy to learn both Arabic in their homes and celebrate
09:01Malayalam in a great way we have Maapala Ramayana Maapala Ramayana basically means in Malayalam
09:06Ramayana is translated by Muslim scholars into Malayalam and all so that synergy should be there
09:11so please remember these kind of these are very sensitive topics I hope politicians will
09:16definitely take care of the sensitivity before implementing any kind of policy like this
09:20also when we talk about you know congress is blamed for their Muslim appeasement politics
09:31for so many times so many years it has continued but now if Rahul Gandhi talks about you know
09:38that we all should be united and the mohabbat ki dukaan and everything then why just one
09:43community or just one language becomes a barrier for so many as you rightly said that their
09:51population is much lesser than what we can think of and instead of that they want a rule which is
09:57only for a very small population so how do you see congress they haven't changed at all it is
10:04continuing even after 75 years. Pandeyji the interesting thing is the greatest congressman
10:10ever Mahatma Gandhi was ready to die for Hindu unity and especially today is September 25th
10:16yesterday nearly a hundred years back Poona pact was signed where Mahatma Gandhi said I will die
10:22but I will not let Hindus be divided Poona pact was the base of the further reservation policy
10:27and all of Indian government where the Dalit, the Brahmin, the other Hindu communities were
10:32brought together in the Yerwada jail in Pune and Mahatma Gandhi said we are not going to be divided
10:37and I will only allow Hindu community divided or the dead body but over the years because of a vote
10:42bank consideration many congress leaders have moved to far left or moved to extreme left you
10:48know the tukde tukde gangs people who celebrate saying that you know India ki barbadi is no issue
10:54or anything abusive so I hope you know Modiji is taking a center-right Gandhian life. Modiji as we
11:00can all see is always taking a statesmanly approach he's trying to be as inclusive and
11:05pluralistic as possible pointing out to his Muslim friend Abbas that is the line we need.
11:10We need integration, we need coming together, we shouldn't need appeasement. There is a huge
11:16difference between assimilation and appeasement. There is a huge difference between coming together
11:20as one people or uniting as one people and you know having some kind of yes there are instances
11:26of Islamophobia or instance of you know anti-Muslim hatred not only in India world over we need to
11:31address that you know our greatest president is Dr. A.P.G. Abdul Kalam. Right now before we are
11:35speaking we were you know planning to celebrate October 15th Dr. A.P.G. Abdul Kalam our greatest
11:41president was a Muslim. The Bharat Mata Shri Jai slogan was given by a Muslim and Jai Hind was given
11:48by Abid Hasan of INX. So we celebrate that but please remember integrate more come together as
11:56you know Indians more is what we need along with pluralism. So I request congress to remember
12:01Sardar Patel, to remember Mahatma Gandhi, to remember the great nationalistic icons who stood
12:07and balanced the nationalistic interest plus minority interest. That's the balance. We need
12:12nationalistic interest on one hand. Modiji said this beautifully you should have holy Quran on
12:16one hand and constitution on the other hand. You need to have computer on one hand and the Quran
12:20on the other hand. That is the integration that we need. Right. Thank you so much for your time.
12:25Thank you so much for your time. Don't miss out. Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.