"Constitutional federalism is the mantra for this country's unity," HD Kumaraswamy tweeted in Kannada
Flaying the AYUSH secretary's conduct for allegedly asking non-Hindi participants to leave a training programme, JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday asked whether it was done with "shameless excitement" to impose Hindi.
The former Chief Minister also asked how much more people of other languages including Kannadigas have to sacrifice in this country for not knowing Hindi.
Referring to the reported incident, where those who did not understand Hindi were asked to leave an online training session held by the AYUSH department, by its secretary Rajesh Kotecha, citing his inability to speak English, Mr Kumaraswamy asked "is this a request for not knowing English or a shameless excitement to impose Hindi?"
In a series of tweets in Kannada, he said constitutional federalism is the mantra for this country's unity, every language here is part of the federal structure.
"When such is the situation, isn't asking people to go out of the training programme for not knowing to speak in Hindi, a violation of the federal system? anti constitution?" he asked.
Seeking to know how much more people of other languages including those from Karnataka have to sacrifice in this country for not knowing Hindi, Mr Kumaraswamy demanded immediate action against Kotecha, who has "obsession for Hindi supremacy", as he urged to respect the federal system.
Recently, alleging that political leaders from the South were deprived of opportunities by "Hindi politics and discrimination", Mr Kumaraswamy had said it has prevented many South Indians from becoming the Prime Minister.
He had also accused the ruling class of ignoring the south with "disdain", and raised concerns over people from the state allegedly being denied opportunities from getting jobs as for many government and public sector jobs, one has to write exams either in English or Hindi.