Let Native Hindi Speakers Learn Kannada
Pluralism is India’s pride. India has identified itself as one nation with one flag retaining its diversity. It was not formed on the basis of one culture and one language. India announced itself as a Republic by recognizing its diverse languages, culture, religions, and traditions. It is true that while we are all Indians, at the same time, we are Kannadigas, Tamilians, or Keralites as well. We can become true Indians only by retaining our Kannada identity and not by giving up the Kannada identity. India is a melting pot of many languages and cultures. If we discard our languages and cultures, there will not be anything left to be considered Indian.
With this being the case, attempts are being made extensively over the past decade to dent the plurality of India. The Sangh Parivar has been working systematically in the back end to impose one culture and one language and destroy the diversity of India. States are expressing outrage that the Union Government is spearheading this project. But it is not the first time that states are being pressurized to accept one language. Now, attempts are also being made to equate the culture of India into Vedic culture. North India is trying to ride over South India by replacing Indian symbols with Vedic symbols. A new narrative that acceptance of India means accepting all the impositions of North Indians is being pushed relentlessly.
Many Southern states are expressing their opposition to these developments. Ironically, this form of dominance is not limited to culture alone. It also extends to the fiscal relationship between the Centre and State with attempts being made to snatch the economic freedom of states. Southern states are facing harassment over their share of financial resources with the Centre backstabbing the states over GST. With states slowly losing their power to raise their voices against such attempts, they find themselves in a sorry state where they cannot even demand a fair share of their revenue from the Centre.
This is also the backdrop in which back door attempts are again being made to impose Hindi or Sanskrit through a trilingual education policy. Having already made everyone believe that Hindi is the national language, the Centre is making preparations to formally announce it and brand those who don’t know the language as ‘non-Indians’.
A sample of this attempt at language hegemony was witnessed in Delhi when a CISF officer asked Tamil Nadu MP Kanimozhi whether she is an Indian after she expressed her inability to understand Hindi and asked if the officer could speak to her either in English or Tamil. Her inability to speak in Hindi prompted the officer to question the MP’s nationality. The belief that all Indians should know Hindi seems to have made the officer ask the question. Whether this was a casual incident or the officer was innocent cannot be established. But it is true that as part of attempts being made to impose Hindi across the country, South Indians are being made to feel uncomfortable having to face such questions. If an officer has the courage to question an MP in this manner, imagine the plight of ordinary people.
Today, North Indians are being deliberately posted in railways and banks and customers are being deliberately made to learn Hindi instead of teaching the staff the regional language. In banks, Kannada Rajyothsava is not being celebrated in the same manner as ‘Hindi Day’. If a farmer from Karnataka goes to the main branch of a bank and tries to communicate in Kannada, he will not get an answer. On the contrary, he will have to face the wrath of the staff for having spoken in Kannada. Kannada medium schools are endangered due to the onslaught of English medium schools and Kannada is increasingly getting reduced as a spoken language. If the imposition of Hindi continues in this manner, Kannada may not even survive as a spoken language.
As it is, North Indians consider South Indians as pariahs on the basis of their colour, language, and culture. In the past, a BJP leader attracted controversy arguing that North Indians are not racists and defending North Indians, asking ‘Don’t we live with South Indians’? Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s attempts to celebrate Kerala’s Onam festival as ‘Vamana Jayanthi’ can be recalled here. Southern states are in the forefront of health, education, IT, BT, cinema, literature, and other fields. Kerala ranks topmost in health and education. Poverty and illiteracy are reigning in the Hindi belt of North India. Without learning Hindi, South India has not lost out on anything. At the same time, states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have not developed because of the Hindi language. In such a situation, why is the Centre imposing Hindi on Southern States? On the contrary, it should be made compulsory for people of all Hindi speaking states to learn at least one Southern Indian language. With this, North Indians can try to build links with Southern India.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Air India deployed wrong aircraft for Vancouver; plane returned to Delhi on Thu
New Delhi (PTI): A Vancouver-bound Air India Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft, after being airborne for over seven hours, returned to the national capital on Thursday evening after it was found that the plane was not approved for operating the flight, according to sources.
An apparent lapse in updating the list of requirements for the operation of flights to Canada resulted in the situation, where a wrong aircraft was deployed for the particular service, sources said.
Without providing specific details, Air India, in a statement on Friday, said the aircraft had landed safely at the Delhi airport.
The flight was operated with Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft VT-AEI and was airborne for over seven hours. The plane turned back to Delhi when it was in the Chinese airspace, according to information available on the flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
ALSO READ: Close shave for Odisha MLA, 36 passengers as bus catches fire
"Air India flight AI185, operating from Delhi to Vancouver on 19 March, returned to Delhi due to an operational issue and in line with established standard operating procedures. The aircraft landed safely, and all passengers and crew had disembarked," the airline said in a statement.
The sources said the flight should have been operated only with a Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, and there was no approval for flying the Boeing 777-200 LR plane.
There are various approvals required for operating flights to foreign destinations, and those depend on each country.
Meanwhile, Air India also said the flight departed for Vancouver with the passengers on Friday morning.
