Are you a historian or linguist: Kamal Haasan faces court's ire in Kannada remark row

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday strongly criticised actor and filmmaker Kamal Haasan for his recent remark suggesting that “Kannada was born out of Tamil”, and observed that a “single apology could have resolved the situation.”

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Justice M Nagaprasanna, who presided over the hearing, said that the statement had hurt the sentiments of the people of Karnataka and questioned Haasan's refusal to offer an apology.

“Language is an emotional and cultural identity of a people,” and stressed that no individual has the right to make comments that undermine the pride of an entire linguistic community, the court observed.

Justice Nagaprasanna remarked, “Are you a historian or a linguist to make such a statement? No language is born out of another. A single apology could have resolved the situation.”