BENGALURU: A tweet by a right-wing author added fuel to an ongoing debate on imposition of Hindi and regional pride. By the time he had explained that the tweet -- claiming the central government was looking into Tamil Nadu’s demand for a GI tag for Mysore Pak -- was a joke, many, including the Congress, had slammed the Centre for being anti-Karnataka.
Even the Mysore-Kodagu MP had said there was no question of allowing Tamil Nadu to get the GI tag.
On Sunday, Anand Ranganathan tweeted, “Pleased to receive this token of appreciation, on behalf of the one-man committee for granting of the Mysorepak GI tag to Tamilnadu. Talks are proceeding smoothly. WDTT” along with a photograph of him giving a packet of Mysore Pak to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This sparked heated discussions and messages from netizens, slamming the writer, the Tamil Nadu and Union governments.
News channels, especially regional Kannada channels, also went on the offensive. To this, Anand said, “Thankfully, I could not understand a word of it. We really need a national language. I propose Kannada.’’
While many slammed broadcast media for not cross-checking facts, others kept their guns trained on Anand Ranganath for making a joke of Kannadiga sentiments. #MysorePak was trending, with many memes and tweets.
Sometime later, Anand tagged Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, who came to his rescue. Tejasvi tweeted, “I spoke to the concerned TV channel. They are stopping it now. Chill for now. And as an aside, accept Mysore Pak is from Mysuru ;)’’
Netizens then turned their anger on Tejasvi. “Mr Tejasvi Surya you have been elected from Karnataka don’t forget that we people in Karnataka are suffering from drought and unstable govt instead of helping us you are supporting some “joker” who plays with Kannadigas’ feelings,’’ @DoddangadiS said.
Anand finally tweeted, “Btw, my esteemed Kannadiga friends. I take this opportunity to say that I love you more than I love Mysorepak, and that my original tweet was a joke. So Please, end this.’’
ORIGIN OF MYSORE PAK
Mysore Pak was first prepared at Mysuru Palace by Kaakasura Madappa for Mysuru Maharaja in 1900. Shivanand S, great-grandson of Kaakasura Maadappa, who owns Guru Sweets in Mysuru, said when guests dropped in, then Mysuru Maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar told Maadappa to prepare a special sweet and thus Mysore Pak was born. “It is unfortunate that someone is taking credit,’’ he said.