Activism Or Hooliganism: Kannada At Centre Of Row Yet Again As Jains Targeted For Hindi Hoarding

Linguistic politics has raised its ugly head yet again in Karnataka, with self proclaimed ‘pro-Kannada activists’ taking the law in their own hands and pulling down Hindi posters at a event organised by the Jain community in Bengaluru.

The incident which took place last Friday (August 16) involved a group of activists belonging to various Kannada outfits objecting to the absence of Kannada in a hoarding that was put up outside the Ganesh Bagh prayer hall by members of the Jain community.

In a video that went viral one can see these activists barging onto the location, hurling abuses at the seer whose picture they point out to in the hoarding, calling the community names and insisting that those in Karnataka will have to live by the rules of the land.

They then went on to climb onto the hoardings, slashing it with knives, and shouting slogans.

South Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya who commented on the incident invited a lot of flak from Twitterati that demanded an apology from the Member of Parliament as he had hurt ‘Kannadiga sentiments’

This led to a political slugfest in the state with the now dismantled erstwhile coalition partners jumping in to the defence of those who indulged in the violent act and attacked the Jain community. This also led to Twitterati trending #ReleaseKannadaActivists while many others protested in front of the town hall.

The activists were arrested on Saturday after the members of the community filed a complaint with the Commercial Street Police, but released yesterday (August 19) after one day of being in judicial custody.

Community leaders who met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa earlier were assured of swift action in this regard as reported. But this has riled up the various pro-Kannada groups who have threatened to hold state-wide agitation.

But their arguement is flawed on more grounds than one.

Firstly, it is not the board of a commercial establishment but a hoarding announcing an event pertaining to a custom internal to a community.

Also, the board was on ‘private’ land belonging to a religious trust which has its boards in all three languages.