bengaluru
Bengaluru is closed to those who do not learn Kannada
By Justice Katju
A tweet by someone has become viral in India
” Bengaluru ( Bangalore) is closed for North Indians and people of neighbouring states who do not wish to learn Kannada. They don’t need Bengaluru when they can’t respect our language and culture “.
Now closing Bengaluru to North Indians or people from other states would be unconstitutional, being violative of Article 19(1)(d) of the Indian Constitution, which says ” All citizens have the right to move freely throughout the territory of India “.
Also, attempts to drive out people from Bengaluru or other parts of Karnataka who do not wish to learn the Kannada language would be violative of Article 19(1)(e) of the Constitution which says ” All citizens have the right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India “. The provision does not further say that only those persons can reside and settle in a state who learn, or wish to learn, the local language of that state.
But apart from these Constitutional provisions, we need to consider the matter from a broader perspective.
Many South Indians, particularly Tamilians, strongly object to imposition of Hindi on them, and rightly so. Though my mother tongue is Hindi, I too strongly object to such imposition. In a democracy nothing should be imposed
However, I have also been recommending to South Indians to voluntarily learn Hindi, as that is in their own interest, since in large parts of India people speak and understand Hindi ( in its simple form known as Hindustani or Khadiboli), if not as their first language ( in the Hindi speaking belt e.g. in UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, HP, etc ) then as their second language ( e.g. in Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kashmir, West Bengal,Telangana, North Eastern States, etc.) So it will be convenient to, and in their own interest, for south Indians to learn Hindi, but that should be purely voluntary, and without any attempt of imposition.
Now as regards learning Kannada by North Indians, again this should be voluntary. It must be remembered that learning a new language requires at least one, if not two, years. There are scores of languages and dialects in India, and it is not possible to learn all of them.
A person coming from North India to Bengaluru and settled there should try to learn some Kannada, but he may be able to get along by his knowledge of English and Hindi. Why should he be compelled to learn Kannada ?
Though all languages ( and even dialects) in
India should be given equal respect, the fact is that Hindi is spoken by 15-20 times more people than Kannada or Tamil ( it is even spoken in Pakistan, though called Urdu). One should give more emphasis on learning a language which is widely spoken, like English and Hindi.
I am not against learning other Indian languages, ( though that will not be as advantageous as learning English and Hindi ) but it should be voluntary.
The ‘closing down’ ( whatever the expression may mean) of Bengaluru to North Indians or people from other states will only lead to balkanization of India, as other states may follow suit and close their states to people not knowing or not learning their local language.
What will then happen to the Union that is India ( vide Article 1 of the Constitution of India) ? It will be broken into pieces.
