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<h1 class="gmail-post-title">Prakash Belawadi debunks the notion that knowledge of Hindi is equal to nationalism</h1>
<div class="gmail-post-excerpt"><strong>"If bank forms don’t have Kannada,
then people who have studied in Kannada medium feel illiterate. Why
would you make people feel inadequate?"</strong><div class="gmail-inuth-author"><ul class="gmail-clearfix gmail-no-sep gmail-post-meta-info"><li class="gmail-post-author"><img src="https://www.inuth.com/wp-content/themes/vip/barcelona-child/images/default-img.jpg" alt="" width="84" height="84"><span class="gmail-author gmail-mb5"><span>
<a href="https://www.inuth.com/author/tatsam/" title="Posts by Tatsam Mukherjee" class="gmail-url gmail-fn" rel="author">Tatsam Mukherjee</a></span></span></li><li class="gmail-post-date">Jan 20, 2018</li></ul></div></div> </header>
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<p>The India Today conclave has surely been an eventful one with
veteran actors making good use of the stage, and being vocal about their
views. After Prakash Raj tore through a BJP spokesperson with his fiery
discourse, it was his namesake’s turn to do the same about the
overbearing imposition of Hindi in the state of Karnataka.</p>
<p><strong>ALSO READ: <a href="https://www.inuth.com/news/why-prakash-raj-is-the-latest-poster-boy-of-dissent-in-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color:rgb(188,24,92)">Why Prakash Raj is the new poster boy of dissent in India</span></a></strong></p>
<p>Belawadi, a veteran in his own right, opened the debate without mincing his words. “<span style="background-color:initial">The idea of Hindi imposition and to conflate it with nationalism is entirely bogus. It’s not correct,” he declared. </span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_232540" style="width:680px" class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-alignnone"><img title="Prakash Belawadi debunks the notion that knowledge of Hindi is equal to nationalism" class="gmail-wp-image-232540 gmail-size-full gmail-shareable-class" src="https://images.inuth.com/2018/01/1-35.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="333"><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">A still from Talvar</p></div>
<p>With the state elections only a couple of months away, there seems to
be an insistence to replace local language Kannada with Hindi.</p>
<p>“The idea is an archaic one. It is not about being anti-Hindi, it is
about equity. It is about common sense. In Karnataka, if bank forms
don’t have Kannada, and people who have studied till class 10 go to a
bank, they feel illiterate. Their primary education has been in Kannada
medium. Why do you impose a situation, where you make people feel
inadequate in their own place?”, the veteran actor asked.</p>
<p>Another member of the panel, NS Madhavan pointed out that the
currency printed after demonetisation had numerals in Hindi which was
against the official language policy of the Government of India. A
resident of Tamil Nadu has filed a case with the High Court on the same
matter.</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_232541" style="width:631px" class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-alignnone"><img title="Prakash Belawadi debunks the notion that knowledge of Hindi is equal to nationalism" class="gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-232541 gmail-shareable-class" src="https://images.inuth.com/2018/01/2-31.jpg" alt="" width="621" height="414"><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">A still from Madras Cafe.</p></div>
<p>Belawadi also spoke out on the need for state flags and that the government should make it official and provide its support.</p>
<p>“Getting government support – what does that mean? That they want to
hoist the flag on buildings? We are already doing that, the government
support doesn’t mean anything really,” he said.</p>
<p>Having starred in mainstream Bollywood films like <em>Madras Cafe</em>, <em>Airlift</em> and <em>Talvar</em>
– Belawadi is also one of the most well-known theatre personalities in
the Kannada circuit, and is also known for his initiative as an activist
in the state of Karnataka.</p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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