Sahitya Sammelana president says ‘it is not acceptable to see Hindi as the first among equal languages’

Categorically opposing Hindi as a link language for communication between different States and linguistic communities, H.S. Venkatesh Murthy, president of the 85th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, proposed Sanskrit or Prakrit for the purpose.

“It is not acceptable for us to see Hindi as the first among equal languages. If you feel a language is required to unite India and make the communication between the States easy, it should not be Hindi. A language which is not a language of a particular province or Sanskrit which was the language of literature and thought once in India or Prakrit which was a language of communication among common people could be developed as a link language, just as Jews developed Yiddish. For the time being, English could be used as a link language between the people of different provinces in India. Such communicative English would be taught in a few months in training courses,” he said in his presidential address delivered from the main stage of the literary event, Sri Vijaya Vedike, on Wednesday.

In an attempt to strike a balance between Kannada and the other mother tongues in the State such as Tamil, the poet suggested speaking mother tongue at home and Kannada outside. He also argued strongly for Kannada as a medium of instruction at the primary level in Karnataka.

“The approach of speaking mother tongue at home and Kannada outside could solve a lot of problems and frictions. What is spoken outside the home is the native language and Kannada is a native language in Karnataka. The medium of instruction should be in Kannada at the primary level in the State. Most of our language problems would get solved if we expand the meaning of mother tongue to mean native language.” he said.

Pointing to the disparities in language teaching across the country, Mr. Murthy disagreed with the approach of three-language policy for South India and two-language policy for North India.

“If we accept the three-language policy, it should uniformly be implemented throughout India. It should not be like three languages for South India and two languages for north India. The children in North should learn one more language of interest along with English and Hindi,” he said.

Unleashing his wrath on individuals and institutions who wanted English as the medium of instruction, Mr. Murthy said that such people and institutions would bring forward the parents’ right of choosing their child’s medium of instruction.

“The profit-oriented educational institutions argue that making Kannada a medium of instruction would adversely affect the children whose mother tongue is not Kannada. They say that it would snatch the parents’ right of choosing the medium of instruction for their children. It is a well-known fact that a child can learn better in its native language. Kannada is Karnataka’s native language and we want it as the medium of instruction,” he said.