My love for Kannada prevails, says Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hurled the ball right back into BJP national president Amit Shah's court on Tuesday and made it amply clear that he was in no mood to give up his confrontation with the NDA government at the Centre on the language question or other crucial issues, ahead of the Assembly polls in 2018.

Delivering his Independence Day speech here on Tuesday, the CM said an "imposition" of any language on a state, which has its own official language, is unconstitutional. The statement comes against the backdrop of protests by pro-Kannada outfits against use of Hindi on Namma Metro signboards. Siddaramaiah had written to the Centre stating the state government was compelled to ask Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation to temporarily re-design signboards in stations without the Hindi language.

Also, the Kannada Development Authority had asked all nationalised, scheduled and rural banks in the state to ensure that all non-Kannada speaking staff learn the language in six months. "Every state has its own official language and our Constitution recognises the primacy of that language in the state to the exclusion of other languages. Hence imposition of any other language in a state is unconstitutional and it is against the spirit of formation of states on linguistic basis," Siddaramaiah said in his address. He is sure to rake in support from pro-Kannada outfits and the general population with his unequivocal stance on the primacy of Kannada even as the BJP vacillates on the issue.

In an indirect attack on the BJP, the CM regretted that casteism and religious issues were being raked up by fascist forces, and described it as a matter of concern for all right thinking people. "Religion is a personal matter and it is sacrilegious to derive political mileage from dividing communities. The time has come to annihilate the forces responsible for this anti-national practice," he added.

Eulogizing the services of the armed forces, he promised a government job to those dependent on soldiers from Karnataka, who were either martyred or permanently disabled in a war or war like situation. People today were able to sleep peacefully at night owing to the sacrifices of its armed forces, he added