The Hindu

Mangalore, Nov 7: It was a different scene in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Thursday, where people usually gathered to protest or to sit on dharna. For a change, there was a music programme to thank the Union Government for granting classical status to Kannada.

In all, 53 musicians came together beating and playing their percussion instruments, and welcoming the classical status to Kannada. Kannada Rakshana Vedike (KRV) organised the programme. There were many percussion instruments like “chende”, “charka tala”, “tase”, drums and the like. There were 53 musicians to signify the 53rd Kannada Rajyotsava this year, said Sanur Satish Saliyan, president of Dakshina Kannada unit of the vedike.

They played together for about half an hour. “We are thanking the Central government this way,” he said.

Paltady Ramakrishna Achar, president, Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, president, Dakshina Kannada unit of Kannada Sahitya Parishat, K. Monappa Bhandary, president, Dakshina Kannada unit of the BJP, Mohammed Baddur, a writer, also attended the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, T.A. Narayana Gowda, State president of KRV, said that the KRV would support the demand of Tulu Sahitya Academy, to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. He said that Tulu speakers are widely spread in the country and abroad.

A right

He said that asking special status for any language was the right of the people who speak it. Mr. Kalkura said like Kannada, vernacular languages were facing a threat as English had made inroads into the home. The only way to preserve the language was to speak them at homes without yielding to the influence of other languages.