The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, advocating for the adoption of a two-language policy comprising Kannada and English in Karnataka’s education system. The state is following a three-language policy.
In his letter, KDA Chairman Purushothama Bilimale said, “I am submitting a request along with the appeal made by Shri Ramesh Bellankonda, who has actively established and is working for the organization ‘Our Land, Our Governance’. He has submitted a detailed petition regarding the need for Karnataka to adopt a bilingual policy. Considering the diversity of discussions taking place in the current context regarding language issues, it seems necessary for Karnataka to implement a bilingual formula. In any case, since a suitable decision needs to be made at the government level on this matter, I seek your guidance.”
He also forwarded a petition submitted by Ramesh Bellamkonda, convener of citizen collective Namma Naadu Namma Alvike (NNNA), which strongly opposes the imposition of Hindi and calls for Kannada and English to be the only compulsory languages in education, governance, and public communication. The petition highlights concerns over linguistic discrimination in national-level competitive exams, governance, and employment, where Hindi and English dominate. It argues that Union government policies favor Hindi speakers in recruitment processes like UPSC, SSC, and banking exams, putting non-Hindi speakers at a disadvantage.
Furthermore, the petition criticises the projection of Hindi as a national language, despite the Constitution not designating any language as such. It urges the Karnataka government to push for regional languages to be included in central recruitment exams and promote the use of Kannada in patriotic slogans instead of Hindi.