

BENGALURU: CM Siddaramaiah said on Saturday that he has written to his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan expressing concerns over the proposed Malayalam Language Bill, which mandates Malayalam as the compulsory first language even in Kannada-medium schools, particularly in the border districts such as Kasaragod.
Siddaramaiah said that he would start a movement against it.
In his letter to Vijayan, Siddaramaiah had stated that if the Bill is passed, Karnataka will oppose it by exercising every constitutional right available to the state, in defence of linguistic minorities and the plural spirit of the country.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Border Area Development Authority president Somanna Bevinamarada and members of the Kasargod Kannadiga Forum met Siddaramaiah and urged to take a delegation to President Droupadi Murmu appealing to exempt Kasargod from the Malayalam Language Bill.