The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Prime Minister urged to confer classical status to Kannada

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 23, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Prime Minister urged to confer classical status to Kannada

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Legislative Council Chairman B.K. Chandrashekar has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to initiate necessary steps to confer status of classical language to Kannada before the end of this month.

In a letter to Dr. Singh, Prof. Chandrashekar said the “Suvarna Karnataka Year”, which is the completion of 50 years of the formation of Karnataka, would be ending this month. Considering the achievements of Kannada writers, he requested the Prime Minister to take urgent steps to provide the classical tag to Kannada.

Justified

“This demand is wide-based, representing the views of all Kannadigas. I believe that the demand is fully justified in terms of the rich history in the growth of Kannada as a language and remarkable achievements of many Kannada literary personalities,” he said. “If Tamil can be recognised as a classical language, I do not know on what grounds similar recognition could be withheld from Kannada,” the chairman said.

Stating that there are hundreds of references to the history and development of Kannada, he said he was struck by Fr. Hera’s observation in his work on Harappa and Mohenjodaro civilisation.

Fr. Hera says: “The people of Karnataka are apparently referred to in one of the seal inscriptions of Mohenjodaro as one of the ancient tribes of the land.”

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