Moodabidri : “Kasargod is home for numerous language speaking communities indeed, but the district is connected to Karnataka as though through umbilical cord. The purely Kannada speaking areas of Kasargod must be joined to Karnataka. When the country was divided into states on the basis of dialects in 1956, Kasargod was joined to Kerala. The controversy of whether the district must belong to Karnataka or Kerala began then, and sustains till date. No solution has been provided to the cries of activities who claim that Kasargod must be joined to Karnataka,” said the faculty of SDM Law College Murulidhara Ballukkuraya. He was delivering a discourse on the problems faced by the Kannada speaking minorities of Kasargod district at a conference organized at Alva’s Nudisiri 2017.

“The problems of Kannada speaking minority in Kasargod are compared with immigrant problems. Immigrants are those who voluntarily migrate to a place in search of jobs or other reasons, and face issues coping the native culture of the area they migrate to. Their problems cannot be compared to the Kannada speaking minority of Kasargod, who adapt to a certain culture from childhood and are forced to accept a new culture altogether. It is sad they compare the two and treat them similarly,” he added.

“The Mahajan Committee was established to deal with the controversy of Kasargod post the division. The committee had accurately studied, tested the evidences, surveyed and evaluated the scenario; and produced a report that stated Kasargod must join Karnataka. However, the suggestion in the report was not executed. Then why form committees for evaluation?” he questioned.

Also elaborating the controversy, Murulidhara Ballukkuraya stated “If Karnataka hopes that the Kannada speaking community stays loyal to its native culture, then it is vital that the writers, intellectuals, politicians and people support them. They must be treated like the Kannadigas within Karnataka, for though they geographically stay away from Karnataka, their hearts beat with the state.”

“It has been 70 years since Indian independence, but the Kannada speaking minority in Kasargod still leads a life of enslavement. Natively born Kannadigas are forced to live like outsiders. The Kerala government treats them like outsiders as well, encroaching most of the facilities prescribed for the Kannada speaking community.

Though there are Kannada medium schools in Kasargod, the students are treated like step-children. Even the teachers are handed with Malayalam circulars. If questioned, the government acts smartly ignorant. Primary school teachers are recruited such that they don’t comprehend Kannada themselves. Kerala government has now declared compulsory for all schools to teach Malayalam from classes 1-10. This is clearly a move to eradicate the Kannada speaking community from Kasargod,” he added.

“The same kind of treatment is received by the Kannada speaking community in the employment sector. Kannada speaking candidates are shrewdly denied jobs, and the government deliberates the same. It has become necessary that the activists and politicians of Karnataka voice the problems of Kannadigas in Kasargod. They require the support of Kannadigas, and need a helping hand to be pulled out of the vulnerable situation”, he concluded.

The President of Alva’s Nudisiri Dr. Nagatihalli Chandrashekar, Vice Presidents of Nudisiri Welcome Committee Jayaprakash Mavinkuli and Na. Damodar Shetty were present.