The invisibility of Kannada and Kannadigas within Karnataka (where only 65 per cent of the people claim Kannada as their mother tongue) is emphasised in language activists' analyses of demographic change in Bangalore city. Not only are Kannada speakers a minority in Bangalore (35%) but non- Kannadigas such as "north Indians" dominate the business world, while Tamils and Malayalis dominate the privileged enclaves of industrial work, and even trade union leadership.Statistics are used to prove that Tamils constitute the most numerous, though declining, body of migrants into the city after Kannadigas. In the view of groups such as the Shakthi Kendra, Tamils are the stubbornly unassimilable minority in the city, flaunting their language, cultural symbols and heroes unlike the Telugus or the Malayalis.
The longer history of Tamil residence in the erstwhile cantonment has certainly produced a well developed identity that newer Tamil migrants, particularly from non-upper castes, have found easy to identify with. The Bangalore Tamil Sangam has played an important role in enabling such assimilation, promoting Tamil literary and cultural programmes since 1950, as well as organising Kannada classes (since 1962) popular among Government employees seeking promotions. Despite this record, it was the Sangam's effort to instal a statue of its cultural hero, Thiruvalluvar, that led to a bitter and prolonged controversy that remains unresolved.
RE:The battle for Bangalore
by Tamil natan on Apr 03, 2008 07:52 PM Permalink
These dissenting voices were overwhelmed by the strident tone of groups such as the Kannada Shakti Kendra and the Rajkumar Abhimanigala sangha against Tamil cultural assertion, a tone that became more menacing in the days leading up to the Cauvery agitation and anti-Tamil riots of December 1991 following a central directive regarding the sharing of the Cauvery river waters. Many Kannada leaders emphasised that the people of Karnataka were paying the price for their historic tolerance of other communities; violence was to be the new language of the Kannada movement. No wonder then that the Tamil groups in turn took to a defensive reinterpretation of Bangalore's history, suggesting through an analysis of place names and temples that the region had been a Tamil stronghold since the time of the Cholas. "In fact," said the Tamil Sangham pamphlet A Mute Genocide, "Tamils of Bangalore and Kolar are the original inhabitants and these areas were gradually colonised". The alleged arrogance of former Tamil Sangam President Maran in saying "I was born in Bangalore, not in Karnataka" echoed demands for Bangalore's "autonomy" from the region.
RE:The battle for Bangalore
by raman govindan on Apr 03, 2008 08:05 PM Permalink
thirukkural of thiruvalluvar is one of earliest secular documents that is universally applicable in ethics, politics and society. m3n can have no obfection to it.
