Malayali MP from Kerala Takes up Tulu's Cause in Lok Sabha
Update:
Tuesday, March 20, 9-00 am
Speaking over phone from New Delhi after his morning walk on Tuesday to Daijiworld's resident editor Richie Lasrado, Karunakaran thanked the portal for the appreciative report about him published earlier in the morning.
Karunakaran said he had taken part in a well-attended conference on Tulu language at Badiadka in Kasaragod district two months ago, where two demands were made, viz. a) formation of Tulu Academy in Kerala, and b) inclusion of Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
The Kerala government had already sanctioned a sum of Rs 20 lac for setting up the Tulu Academy, he said. The second mission is being pursued dedicatedly, he said.
He made a special mention about the efforts made by scholar Kayyara Kinhanna Rai of Kasaragod, who is well-versed in seventeen languages. He further said Manjeshwar in Kasaragod district was proud to have a college named after another Kannada author-scholar and poet laureate, the late Manjeshwar Govinda Pai.
Karunakaran also revealed his next plan to set in motion a signature campaign for Tulu, with signatures of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members and other leaders of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, to be ultimately submitted to the President of India.
While asked about the sensitive issue of merger of Kasaragod with Karnataka, Karunakaran said it was a 51-year-old matter and almost a closed chapter. While treating this as a separate issue, he assured that he would continue his efforts for Tulu, as a representative of a large Tulu-speaking population in his Kasaragod constituency.
Earlier report
from our special correspondent in Delhi (MB)
Mangalore / New Delhi, Mar 20: This is not to undermine the job being done by the elected representatives of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts at the national level.
But a recent report from the proceedings of the Lok Sabha says that a member of the house, during a zero hour, demanded that Tulu, a language spoken by lacs of people in and around Mangalore and Udupi, be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
What was special about it? Normally a member of the Lok Sabha from Mangalore or Udupi would be morally bound to demand such a status for Tulu.
P Karunakaran, CPI(M) member of the Lok Sabha from Kasaragod
But, curiously enough, it was not a Dakshina Kannadiga or a Tuluva member of the Lok Sabha who raised the point, but a Keralite CPI(M) member elected from Kasargod, P Karunakaran.
Again, not that our own members have not demanded the inclusion of Tulu during the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha in the past. While one does not remember any of the two sitting Rajya Sabha members or two Lok Sabha members having raised this subject in recent times, Karunakaran's move has won wide appreciation among Delhi residents of undivided DK origin.
The mention of relevant facts and figures by Karunakaran in his speech during the zero hour was all the more significant. He said that Tulu was one of the most prominent among the Dravidian languages. He also pointed out that Tulu had been one of 123 languages worlwide, recognized by the US.
He further pointed out that over 50 lac of people in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga, Hassan, Chikmagalur and Kodagu districts of Karnataka and Kasaragod district of Kerala spoke this language, while also stressing that speakers of this language originally belonged to agriculture and cottage industry-based cultural background.
Mustn't the Tuluva and Dakshina Kannadiga members of the houses take a cue from him?
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