AAP's Ramesh Bellamkonda slams Centre's "neglect of languages other than Hindi"
Aug 21, 2023
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 21 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vice president Ramesh Bellamkonda on Monday in a press conference slammed the Centre over the neglect of non-Hindi languages and demanded to conduct the Institute for Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) exam in Kannada.
"Why is the IBPS exam conducted by the central government only in Hindi or English? Won't Kannada and other speakers be deprived of opportunities?," he asked during the press briefing today at the press club in Bengaluru.
Regarding the neglect of non-Hindi languages in the national examination, the AAP leader said, "If Hindi native speakers in the country can take the exam in Hindi, why do Kannadigas and other native speakers of the country not have the choice of appearing in their own language? Why is there an imperative to write exams in their mother tongue and take exams in English?"
He said that this present recruitment also includes 41 “Raj Bhasha Officers” whose job is to ensure Hindi is used in banks "as much as possible" all over India. "For these posts, candidates are required to have a postgraduate degree either in Hindi or in Sanskrit and have English as a subject. Kannada and all other Indian languages are totally irrelevant," he added.
"Is this not an imposition of Hindi and treatment of non-Hindi Indians as second-class Indians? There are about seven crore Kannadigas in Karnataka and about 82 crore non-Hindi Indians in India. Is this an effort to enslave them? Why Sanskrit in banking? No to Kannada and Yes to Sanskrit in Banks? Amazing!," he said.
He further appealed to the people of Karnataka and also others to join hands to stop "language injustice".
"My appeal to people in Karnataka and everywhere else, let us join hands to stop this language injustice in banking and to make reparations for damage already done. To all the supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in Karnataka and elsewhere, please wake up. Understand what they are doing to you. Don’t vote for your own enslavement. Join us. Let us bring change together," he said.
