Language Battle: How Karnataka Is Battling over Speaking Regional Language

Regional Languages are the pride of any state and anyone who masters a regional language has easy communication. However, many outsiders, residing in a particular state face backlash after their inability to speak regional languages. Such people are being taunted and physically harassed over their failure and are being forced to speak the regional languages. Business owners who find a prospect in different states of India have to install sign boards in regional languages. Not only this, but activists are looking for sign boards that are not in regional languages. 

The first instance was seen in Bangalore when some activists tried to take down the signboards, which were written in different languages. This changed the business perspectives. Many of them wanted to make the signboards look creative however, to keep the sustenance alive, they agreed to change the boards in the regional language. Bangalore is always on top whenever it comes down to language battles. A few days back a video was circulated on social media which showed a couple along with their child being attacked by a group of people over not being able to speak in the regional language. Despite the man’s constant effort to make them believe that he moved recently, the mob kept attacking the family of three personally. 

The daily commute of passengers further fell into turmoil after Autorickshaw drivers demanded higher fares for non-Kannada-speaking while the reason is yet unknown. Anthropologist Usha Rao claimed that the number of Kandika-speaking residents has reduced more space is given to outsiders and to maintain the ratio, many activists have taken the roads to preserve the culture and traditions of Karnataka. 

Similar cases were seen in West Bengal when a person was thrashed and tortured for not speaking in Bengali. West Bengal is a diverse state that has a population from all states of India however, having a larger population from Bihar. The migrants had started entering the state to secure work or jobs. People who speak in Hindi are being questioned and harassed. While many of us are aware of the national language, certain people do not wish to accept this and stress over the regional languages. 

Complaints are filed in many states where such discrimination is still a part of, and authorities have nothing to do with it. Cultural diversity is the tradition of India, and the primary reason behind India’s rich legacy is the contribution of different diversities in collaborative work. Police are getting cases of outrages and are promptly working on reducing such issues however, the language tension is persisting and will not improve until a unified conduct is introduced.