In a major development, Karnataka is organising a conclave of all the Dravidian languages in December which is seen as politically to push against imposition of Hindi in south of India. This is also an opportunity to bring all the 40-odd languages together from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to the Dravidian platform for an understanding of its roots. This first ever conclave is the initiative of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), a State Government run organisation which is promoting Kannada across the State.
According to Professor SG Siddaramaiah, Chairman of the KDA, this conclave is an academic exercise and an opportunity to bring all the Dravidian languages together for better understanding. He said “this is purely an academic exercise. This is to understand the common thread which runs through these languages. We have invited many scholars, academics, writers and others to this conclave which is significant.”
The conclave will also demand UNESCO status to these languages. “These languages have same history and common roots. We have forgotten the history of these languages. However this is an attempt to re look into the history,” he said.
Even though the conclave is to trace the root of the Proto-Dravidian languages and its scripts to help the future generations to understand their linguistic history this conclave appears to be part of efforts to strengthen the Dravidian languages to resist the alleged imposition of Hindi, which has in the past triggered several protests and movements in the southern States.
He said talking about the significance of this conclave, One of the Dravidian languages declared dead in India is Brahui, which is, however, still spoken in the Balochistan region of Pakistan. The conclave will be discussing the native languages of Karnataka, Konkani, Tulu, Beary and other tribal languages from other States.
He said developing and promoting languages is constitutional right and India does not belong to one religion, one language, one culture or one region. “We are a multi-cultural nation that believes in unity in diversity," Siddaramaiah said. According to Chandrashekar Patil a renowned thinker and writer in Karnataka feels that fewer people from southern states are getting jobs because of one can’t opt for any state language other than Hindi. “We believe that strengthening the Dravidian languages will help win back jobs," he said. he is also member of the KDA.
He blamed BJP for "sidelining" non-Hindi-speaking States."I am not against Hindi or any language for that matter. But it's dangerous to impose one language in a multi-lingual nation like ours," Patil said.
Already there is a movement against Hindi imposition in Tamil Nadu led by DMK chief Stalin.