The president of 87th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, Nadoja Go Ru Channabasappa being welcomed on his arrival in Mandya on December 19, 2024 by Minister in-charge of Mandya district N. Cheluvarayaswamy, Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Mahesh Joshi, MLA Ravikumar, and Deputy Commissioner Dr. Kumara.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
“Pluralism is the basic character of our country’s unity, but the Union Government has failed to follow this principle,” said Go.Ru. Channabasappa, popularly called Go.Ru.Cha, in his presidential address to the 87th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Mandya, Karnataka.
“The most worrying thing is the danger that our social pluralism, multiculturalism, linguistic autonomy, religious harmony, and economic prosperity are facing today,” he said, addressing hundreds gathered to attend the annual event that celebrates the Kannada language.
“The Union Government should constitutionally follow the policy of multilingual culture. However, this is not happening today. In all-India level competitive examinations, banking transactions, and post offices, there is a large-scale effort to encourage the imposition of Hindi, ignoring the State languages,” he said.
He contended that Kannada is kept out of the departments, corporations, institutions, and banks under the Union Government as much as possible. Like other States, as per Article 345 of our Constitution, Kannada is the official language of our State. “Imposing a single language on all States is not justifiable. Karnataka government should convince the Union Government of this regard in every possible way,” he urged.
“Ours is a constitutional federal system, and we have maintained it for the last 74 years. It has carefully preserved its identity and uniqueness on the basis of its language, literature, lifestyle, food culture, spirituality, economy, employment, and other activities. Therefore, we should not forget that the unity and integrity of India rests on multilingualism-multiculturalism. Kannada is sovereign in Karnataka, which does not mean language blindness. It is a very important quality of an ideal democracy,” he added.
Economic relations too
Further, he argued that the Union Government had failed to constitutionally manage ‘fiscal federalism’.
“There is truth in the statement of the Chief Minister of Karnataka that the Union Government is doing injustice to the State regarding tax share… These words should not be seen through political colours. This is a question of the life and future of the people of Karnataka,” he said. He urged a national discussion on the relationship between the Union and the States, especially on the financial relationship. “The Central Government should constitute a special commission of constitutional and financial experts in this regard,” he said.
Mr. Channabasappa lauded the five guarantee schemes implemented by the government of Karnataka. “They are crucial for the working class. It is an indirect measure to give respect to the labour class, and it is a plan to distribute economic prosperity to the people,” he added.
Religious intolerance
Regretting an increasing tendency towards religious intolerance, he said, “Religions today have become tools for sowing intolerance and inequality. Religion and religious institutions are being misused. Festivals and anniversaries of religious leaders are becoming weapons to divide society instead of bringing people together. Instead of kindness, It is regrettable that temples, mosques, gurudwaras, chaityalayas, and basadis are becoming centres of communal conflict,” he said.
Mr. Channabasappa stressed on the importance of using technology for developing Kannada. “The reason why the Kannada language has remained alive during its journey of thousands of years is that it has kept pace with the developments of the time. Kannada has grown to be a very rich language. Our language has absorbed and flourished with the contributions of all the political, social and cultural developments of that time. Now, with the help of technology, which is changing the face of global communication, the Kannada language needs to become even richer. The government’s biggest responsibility at this time is to make the necessary technical preparations for this,” he added.
On Kannada University
The president of the Sammelana specifically addressed the difficulties of Kannada University in Hampi, and urged special attention. “It is truly heartbreaking that due to lack of funding, it is in a deplorable state. The university cannot pay the staff, the electricity and water bills. This does not bring glory to any government. Therefore, the government should not see it as a for-profit educational institution. It is the moral responsibility of the government to protect and nurture the objectives of Kannada University and ensure that research is carried out there without any worries. The same applies to our Folklore University, which is dedicated to folklore and is considered the first of its kind in the world,” he added.
Published – December 20, 2024 03:34 pm IST
