"Not England": Union Minister Backs Bengaluru's "60% Kannada" Rule

Union minister Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday that while he does not hold with violence, he did agree with the demand that shop signages in Karnataka should be predominantly in the local language. Speaking to NDTV hours after pro-Kannada groups went on a rampage in state capital Bengaluru, the MP from Dharwad questioned why shopkeepers insist on writing signages only in English.

"Everybody should be able to read the signs and not everyone can read English. What is the harm in writing in Kannada as well as in English or another language, like Hindi? This is not England," he told NDTV when asked if the sub-nationalism invoked by the Congress has worried the BJP.

"If there has been violence that cannot be approved but these people (shopkeepers) should also understand the sentiment and the necessity," he added.

The civic rules in Bengaluru maintain that 60 per cent of a signage has to be written in the vernacular language of the state.

But with many shops, especially in malls, bypassing the rule, pro-Kannada groups -- who for long have been demanding vernacular signages -- vandalised more than 20 shops in the city today.

Besides shopping centres in MG Road, Brigade Road, Lavelle Road and St Marks Road, protests were also held along the Kempegowda International Airport.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who brought the language row in October remarking that "everyone living in this state should learn to speak Kannada", said he was aware of today's developments.

"We will take action against those who took the law into their own hands and went against the law," Mr Siddaramaiah said.

BBMP chief Tushar Giri Nath said commercial stores under the the civic body's jurisdiction has to comply with the rule by February 28, failing which they could face legal action, including suspension of business licences.