Congress MPs from Karnataka on Wednesday walked out of a meeting of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), objecting to a RSS resolution mentioned in a memorandum submitted to the Union government.
The KDA prepared the memorandum on the State government’s key proposals to promote Kannada in education and employment. The meeting was organised at Union Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda’s residence. It was attended by MPs of both the BJP and the Congress from Karnataka. Union Minister Suresh Angadi, also from Karnataka, was present.
Rajeev Gowda, a Congress member of the Rajya Sabha, said his party was upset at the use of a private organisation as a reference in the memorandum. “The entire memorandum has the reference of official documents supporting each proposal, but one document, related to a RSS resolution, was not required at all,” he said.
The resolution was adopted by the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the RSS in March 2018. It says primary education should be in Indian languages alone.
The Congress members put forth their objections, but no convincing response was given by KDA chairman T.S. Nagabharana.
“The KDA had never referred to any private organisation earlier. There are many organisations working for the protection and promotion of Kannada. The RSS works for promoting Hindi and Sanskrit. This shows the intention of the government,” former KDA chairman Hanumanthaiah said.
Mr. Gowda said the KDA and the Ministers agreed that the two pages would be removed from the memorandum, but the Congress MPs walked out as a mark of protest.
The KDA, however, defended the inclusion of the RSS resolution, pointing out that it called for promoting all Indian languages.
Mr. Nagabharana said the content of the resolution was about the “need to protect and promote Indian languages” and there was nothing wrong in using it as a reference. “English may be a working language, but the State languages and the mother tongue need to be promoted in order to protect our culture and tradition,” he said.
