Mysuru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah kickstarted the prestigious three-day literary fest, the 83rd Akhila Bharatha Kannada Sahithya Sammelana in Mysuru on Friday by beating the dollu and lighting the lamp.
President of the Sammelana Prof Chandrashekar Patil, district minister Dr H.C. Mahadevappa, several noted poets including K.S. Nissar Ahmed, Baraguru Ramachandrappa, Siddalingaiah, B.T. Lalitha Nayak and others were present.
Addressing 40,000 literary lovers, the CM said his government is committed to implement education in the mother tongue, and is striving for a constitutional amendment in this regard. "We have written two letters. We will even try to get it done by discussing the issue in the CMs' meeting," he said.
Mr Siddaramaiah also spoke out against attempts to curb literary freedom and said, "It is wrong to check freedom of expression in the name of patriotism, devotion for dharma and nationalism. I strongly believe in freedom of expression, be it in literature, music art or the media. Democracy is strengthened with free expression. Like the national flag and anthem, we have a corresponding Kannada anthem and we need to have our own flag. Objecting to it is akin to dishonouring our language and land. It’s not enough to be Kannadigas by birth or by living in this land, we should be Kannadigas in our thoughts and actions too.
We should feel proud to use the language. We need to pledge that we will communicate in Kannada, read Kannada books and newspapers, and inculcate Kannada culture in our kids. Basavanna said that our body is a temple, and if we accept that philosophy, we cannot hurt one another. Like communal harmony, language harmony is also important. Though people from different regions are free to live their lives here, we only wish they learn the language of the region," he said.
Continuing in the same vein, the CM said, "Kannada is not politics to me. It is my life. Ever since I began my public life as Kannada Kavalu Samithi president I have never compromised on Kannada the land, water and language. We have approved the Kannada cultural policy and are implementing it," he said.
Prof Chandrashekar Patil urged people to vote for a national party which has a regional agenda in their manifesto, which is secular and upholds democratic values. He also spoke of the threat to freedom, equality, co-existence, secularism and social justice assured in the Constitution.
Literateur Baraguru Ramachandrappa while expressing his despair over growing communalism, conflicts among religions and intolerance, said, "We need cultural harmony not sacrifice of lives over differences of opinion."
