‘Ajay Devgn blabbered as a BJP mouthpiece’: Karnataka ex-CMs on Hindi national language row

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, April 28

Two former Karnataka chief ministers have jumped into a debate after Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn responded to Kannada superstar Kiccha Sudeep, saying that Hindi is India's national language, sparking a language row.

The leaders offered a reality check to the actor.

The Karnataka leaders slammed Ajay Devgn and pointed out that Hindi is not India's national language.

While former Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah strongly criticised Ajay Devgn's tweet saying Hindi was never our national language, Janata Dal (Secular)'s HD Kumaraswamy backed Kannada actor Sudeep Sanjeev's remark that Hindi is not the national language and directly attacked the Bollywood actor, calling him a BJP mouthpiece.

From the beginnig, ‘Hindi’ based political parties in the Centre have been making efforts to destroy regional languages. Congress which started surprising regional languages is being continued by the BJP. 4/7

— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) April 28, 2022

Hindi was never & will never be our National Language.

It is the duty of every Indian to respect linguistic diversity of our Country.

Each language has its own rich history for its people to be proud of.

I am proud to be a Kannadiga!! https://t.co/SmT2gsfkgO

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 27, 2022

"Ajay Devgn blabbered as a mouthpiece of BJP's Hindi Nationalism of one nation, one tax, one language & one government," Mr Kumaraswamy said in a tweet.

Ajay Devgn, who is gearing up for the release of his film 'Runway 34', publicly replied to Kiccha Sudeep's opinion on Hindi not being the national language of India, on Wednesday.

The, 'Singham' actor took to his Twitter and tagged Sudeep as he tweeted, "Brother, if Hindi is not our national language according to you, then why do you release films made in your mother tongue dubbed in Hindi? Hindi is our mother tongue, and our national language, and it will always be. Jana Gana Mana."

.@KicchaSudeep मेरे भाई,
आपके अनुसार अगर हिंदी हमारी राष्ट्रीय भाषा नहीं है तो आप अपनी मातृभाषा की फ़िल्मों को हिंदी में डब करके क्यूँ रिलीज़ करते हैं?
हिंदी हमारी मातृभाषा और राष्ट्रीय भाषा थी, है और हमेशा रहेगी।
जन गण मन ।

— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) April 27, 2022

Hi @KicchaSudeep, You are a friend. thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding. I’ve always thought of the film industry as one. We respect all languages and we expect everyone to respect our language as well. Perhaps, something was lost in translation 🙏

— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) April 27, 2022

Sudeep had earlier made a comment at the film launch of 'R: The Deadliest Gangster Ever'. When probed about a Kannada film becoming a pan-Indian hit, Sudeep told media, "You said that a pan India film was made in Kannada. I'd like to make a small correction. Hindi is no more a national language. They (Bollywood) are doing pan-India films today. They are struggling (to find success) by dubbing in Telugu and Tamil, but it's not happening. Today, we are making films that are going everywhere."

Incidentally, Ajay was recently seen in a cameo appearance in superstar director S.S. Rajamouli's magnum opus, 'RRR' along with Ram Charan, Jr NTR and Alia Bhatt. The film, which was a pan-India release, was dubbed in five languages - Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.

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