BENGALURU: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah, assuring him that they will not change the names of any villages in Kasargod from Kannada to Malayalam. He also informed the Congress leader that the Kerala government has taken steps to telecast Kannada medium classes through a local cable channel.
Pinarayi’s response came after Siddaramaiah recently wrote to him, urging the Kerala government not to change the names of villages in Kasargod district.Pinarayi stated that they have not taken any decision on renaming places and there need not be any apprehension in this regard.
“We fully appreciate the feelings expressed by you for strengthening harmony and the bond among the people of both the states,” the Kerala CM said. Stating that all the schools in Kerala are shut due to the pandemic and classes are being conducted online, Vijayan said, “Steps have been taken to relay classes in Kannada medium through local cable channels.”
Siddaramaiah, in his letter, had said, “It is unfortunate that local bodies in Kasargod are taking decisions to change the names of a few villages whose names are derived from Kannada and Tulu. The people of Kasargod share a unique relationship with Kannada and are emotionally connected with the village names. Any attempts to rename the villages will demoralise them and make them feel alienated from their homeland.”
He had also written about closure of Kannada schools in Kasargod, stating that since many parents want their children to study in their mother tongue, encouraging this will lead to linguistic diversity.