‘Let love for Kannada not be restricted to November alone’

Labour Minister and district-in-charge for Dharwad, Santosh Lad, has called on everyone not to restrict their love for the Kannada language and land to the month of November alone, but instead take the pledge of writing, conversing, and conducting day-to-day business in Kannada and teach Kannada to non-Kannadigas.

Addressing a gathering after hoisting the national flag during the 70th Karnataka Rajyotsava celebrations at R.N. Shetty District Stadium in Dharwad on Saturday, he called on everyone to resolve to remain committed towards the progress of the State and nation.

“The red and yellow colours in the Kannada flag are indicative of the power, valour, and cultural pride of the State. The State language, Kannada, reflects our culture and tradition. With an ancient history of over 2,500 years, Kannada has various dialects,” he said.

The Minister said that the unification movement of Karnataka was significant, like the freedom struggle. While Mysuru State took birth in the year 1956 by bringing together all Kannada-speaking areas, the unification movement took birth in Dharwad. “It was Alur Venkatarao who first mooted the idea of Karnataka, and it is our duty to remember R.H. Deshpande, Deputy Channabasappa, Adaragunchi Shankaragouda Patil and others who led the unification movement,” he said.

Mr. Lad said that the men of letters of Kannada were the reason and inspiration for preservation of Kannada language, culture and heritage, who laid the foundation through their works of literature that have received universal acceptance.  Such being the case, it was important to remember the the poets, writers and musicians of Kannada land who contributed a great deal towards development of Kannada language, he said.

The Minister then listed out various government schemes, particularly the guarantee schemes that the state government had successfully implemented, which he said, had transformed the lives of the common people.

Mr. Lad also said that the Karnataka Rajyotsava was also an occasion to reiterate the commitment towards the development of new Karnataka, which, while remembering its roots was marching ahead excelling beyond the boundaries of language, caste and religion.

MLC F.H. Jakkappanavar, Chairman of Karnataka Bal Vikas Academy Sangamesh Bableshwar, Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Divya Prabhu G.R.J., ZP CEO Bhuvanesh Patil, Superintendent of Police Gunjan Arya, Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar and others were present.

Earlier, the Minister inspected the parade and received the guard of honour from various contingents of police, armed police, fire brigade, NCC volunteers and various schools and colleges.

Scores of students from various schools and hostels enthralled the audience with their lively cultural programmes. Meanwhile following disruption in power supply reportedly due to technical glitches the Rajyotsava celebrations were affected for some time, leading to Deputy Commissioner announcing about taking action against those responsible.