Bengaluru(PTI): The friendly conversation between Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kichcha Sudeep took a political turn with former Karnataka chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy joining the debate and insisting that Hindi is like any other language in India and not the national language.

"Hindi was never & will never be our National Language. It is the duty of every Indian to respect linguistic diversity of our country. Each language has its own rich history for its people to be proud of. I am proud to be a Kannadiga!! Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah tweeted.

The JD(S) second-in-command Kumaraswamy too aired a view similar to Siddaramaiah and backed Sudeep.

"Actor @KicchaSudeep saying that Hindi is not a National Language is correct. There is nothing to find fault in his statement. Actor @ajaydevgn is not only hyper in nature but also shows his ludicrous behaviour.

According to him, Hindi is also one of the languages like Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi.

"India is a garden of several languages. Land of multi cultures. Let there be no attempts to disrupt this," he added in his series of tweets on Thursday on the issue.

Just because a large population speaks Hindi, it doesn't become a national language, Kumaraswamy said adding, less than nine states, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, have Hindi as second or third language or not even that.

"This being situation what is the truth in Ajay Devgan's statement? What do you mean by not to dub? Kumaraswamy sought to know.

According to him, from the beginning, Hindi' based political parties at the Centre have been making efforts to destroy regional languages. The Congress started 'suppressing' regional languages and that is being continued by the BJP, he charged.

Bollywood actor Devgn and Sudeep engaged in a 'brotherly argument' on Twitter on the topic of whether Hindi is a national language or not.

However, Sudeep clarified that the context in which he made the statement was different from the way it was perceived and that it was not intended to provoke, hurt or start a debate.

The trigger for the argument was Sudeep's statement a few days ago during a function in Bengaluru where the who's who of the Kannada film industry celebrated the nationwide success of 'KGF-2' starring Yash. When the compere of the event said 'KGF-2' had a pan-India effect, Sudeep said Hindi is no more a national language.

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Thiruvananthapuram/Kozhikode (PTI): Air India Express passengers who were promised travel to various destinations from airports in Kerala were left stranded on Thursday as their flights were unexpectedly canceled for the second day in a row.

Travelers at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kannur airports faced disappointment when flights to Gulf nations were called off at the last minute for the second consecutive day.

This sudden cancellation has sparked frustration and caused inconvenience among passengers who relied on the airline's assurance for their travel plans.

"I was assured by Air India Express yesterday that I can travel to Qatar on Thursday. But they did not keep their promise. I was told at the last moment that my flight has been cancelled again for the second consecutive day," an aggrieved passenger at Karipur airport in Kozhikode told reporters.

Another passenger, who claimed his work visa would expire today, told a TV channel at Thiruvananthapuram airport that when his flight to the Gulf region was cancelled yesterday, he was given a ticket for today.

"When I arrived here (Thiruvananthapuram airport), the airline told me that the flight was cancelled. If I do not reach my place of work by tonight, my visa will expire and I will lose my job," he said.

Another passenger at the Thiruvananthapuram airport said that AI Express asked him to take a ticket on another airline, but he was unable to do so.

"Why can't they help us get tickets on another airline? Let them charge us for that," he said.

Air India Express has issued termination letters to around 25 cabin crew members who reported sick that led to the cancellation of more than 90 flights, airline sources said on Thursday.

The Tata Group-owned airline has also given an ultimatum to the remaining cabin crew members reporting sick to join back duty by 4 pm on Thursday or face termination, they added.

Air India Express has also cancelled at least 60 flights for Thursday due to the non-availability of cabin crew, the sources said, and added that mass leaves by a section of the cabin crew have caused immense inconvenience to passengers.