Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during his visit to New Delhi, on Wednesday, said that Karnataka would lodge a protest with the Centre on the imposition of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states.
Lashing out against the "imposition of Hindi signs" in Bengaluru metro, and the growing protest against it in the city, the Chief Minister said, "The Karnataka government will not tolerate imposition of Hindi. Hindi is being used in Metro rail citing the three-language formula. Metro is not a central government project. The major funding is by the state government.”
"Hindi is spoken in several north Indian states, it should not be seen as a language which is spoken across the country,” he told reporters in New Delhi. The CM heavily criticised the Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu's recent statement that people in the country should learn Hindi as it was the national language. Siddaramaiah said that such statements were "not acceptable".
The Chief Minister had been to the capital for the joint Opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar's nomination. He said that he would hold talks with the Centre about the increasing opposition to imposition of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states and ensure that Kannada language is preserved in the state.