Recently, Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep attended an event where he talked about his film KGF Chapter 2. Among other things, he said that “Hindi is no more a national language”. His point was that while Hindi cinema enjoyed overwhelming attention from the people of India, it is no longer the case.
Now, actor Ajay Devgn took serious offense to this and tweeted:
This is not only problematic but also factually incorrect. Hindi is not the “national language” of India. It is an “official language”, chosen by the Parliament for its day-to-day functioning, along with English.
So, the concept of “rashtriya bhaasha” can be dropped at this moment. Anyway, the other point is that Ajay’s question here is not founded on logic. He asks Sudeep why are South Indian movies dubbed in Hindi if it is not our national language? To take it to a wider audience? The comment does not even make sense.
Sudeep was very mannered in his response and said that first of all, he said things in a very different context, and secondly, what would happen if he wrote his response in Kannada (since Ajay had written his tweet in Hindi).
To this, Ajay thanked him for clearing the misunderstanding in a long message that ended with an expectation that everyone respect “our language”.
Twitter was soon flooded with opinions on the whole debate and here are some of the reactions from people in the film industry and those from politics.
1. The former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, said that “Hindi was never & will never be our national language”.
2. Meanwhile, the current CM of the state, Basavaraj Bommai, said, “A regional language is the most important as a state is formed on linguistic bases”:
3. Another former CM, HD Kumaraswamy, also supported Kiccha Sudeep, and reminded Ajay of his debut movie Phool Aur Kaante which ran in Bengaluru for a year.
4. From the film industry, Sonu Sood reacted to the debate with this quote given to The Indian Express.
I don’t think Hindi can be called just the national language. India has one language, which is entertainment. It doesn’t really matter which industry you belong to. If you entertain people, they will love you, honour you and accept you.
5. Ram Gopal Varma gave his own twist to the whole debate and said that Ajay was doing this because “north stars are insecure and jealous of the south stars”.
6. Meanwhile, actor Gulshan Devaiah, without taking names, made his stand very clear on the issue.
7. Actor and the former member of Lok Sabha, Ramya, called out Ajay Devgn for his “baffling ignorance”.
Every few months, someone claims Hindi is our national language. Funny, because constitutionally, we do not have a “national language”.