BENGALURU: Former chief minister and co-ordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah has crossed swords with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy over his decision to introduce English medium in 1,000 government schools from the next academic year. Siddaramaiah took to Twitter to criticise the decision of the CM, saying, “I have studied in Kannada medium till high school. Am I an idiot?”
The tweets come in the wake of a recent meeting of eminent Kannada writers and activists urging the state government to withdraw the decision and to teach English only as a language from primary classes.
In the first tweet on Thursday evening, Siddaramaiah wrote: “We should have clarity on learning Kannada language and Kannada medium (of instruction). I have studied in Kannada medium till high school. Am I (Has it made me) an idiot? Kannada should be the sovereign language in Karnataka.”
In the second tweet, he said, “Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that 1,000 English medium schools will be started from the next academic year in the state. I will discuss this with him.”
About a week ago, eminent Kannada writers had met in Bengaluru and expressed their reservations over the decision of the state government. Following the meeting, the writers had decided to send a delegation led by Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Manu Baligar to meet the CM and urge him to withdraw the decision. They had threatened to launch an agitation against the government if their demands were not fulfilled.
This is not the first time that Siddaramaiah has been critical of the decisions made by the coalition government led by Kumaraswamy. Apart from being critical of the increase in fuel cess and others, he was also opposed to the interim budget presented in June.