Protest for inclusion of Tulu in Eighth Schedule of Constitution

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Apr 19, 2016: Members of the Tulunadu Rakshana Vedike staged a dharna in front of the Clock Tower in Udupi, on Apr 18, Monday demanding inclusion of Tulu language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and recognising it as one of the official languages of the State.

Addressing the protesters, Jeppu Yogish Shetty, founder-president of the vedike, said that the people living in Tulunadu comprising the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada were known for the gentle and compromising nature.

After Independence, when linguistic States were formed in the 1950s, they gladly accepted the supremacy of Kannada and Karnataka and integrated with the State in a peaceful manner. They also worked for the development of Kannada language and literature.

But this gentle nature of the people of Tulunadu is now taken advantage of as ’weakness’, which is unfortunate. Though Tulu was the lingua franca of Tulunadu, the earlier generations had accepted Kannada. But now the people of Tulunadu were seeing that Tulu should no longer be neglected.

Tulu, which is among the five Dravidan languages, has a rich vocabulary. The culture of Tulunadu was unique. Though the State government had formed the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy and had even introduced Tulu as an optional third language in school in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts in 2011, these measures were clearly not enough. The issue could be resolved only by putting in enough pressure on the Union and State governments to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The State government should issue an order declaring Tulu as one of the official languages of the State, Mr. Shetty said.

Chittaranjandas Shetty, president of district unit of the vedike; Ajjaruddin, general secretary; Prashanth Rao, Siraj Adkare, Anand Amin, Mushtaq Ali, Jyotika Jain, Subhas Sujan, Sukhalatha Shetty, and Nazeer, office-bearers, were present.