ಕನ್ನಡ ಬ್ಲಾಗುಗಳು ೧

A Kannadiga's Lament: How National Politics is Eroding Our Identity

As I watch this latest controversy unfold - Tamil politicians claiming ownership over Kannada's origins while BJP leaders, whose entire ideology is rooted in Sanskrit supremacy, suddenly pose as defenders of Kannada - I am struck by a profound realization: we Kannadigas have become strangers in our own land, spectators to debates about our own heritage, conducted by forces that have systematically weakened us for decades. 

The Great Betrayal 

For seventy-eight years since Independence, we have faithfully voted for national parties - Congress, BJP, and their various avatars. We believed their promises of development, their rhetoric of unity, their assurances that our interests would be protected within the larger Indian framework. What have we received in return? The slow, methodical erosion of everything that makes us Kannadiga. Today, a Tamil actor can casually dismiss our language as a derivative, and our response is mediated through the same national parties that have presided over our cultural decline. The bitter irony is inescapable - those who claim to defend us today are the very architects of our marginalization. 

The Systematic Erosion 

Look around Karnataka today. In Bengaluru, our own capital, while Kannada remains the single largest spoken language, it increasingly feels alien in its own home. Walk through the IT corridors, the malls, the upscale restaurants - Kannada has been pushed to the margins of public discourse. Our children speak in English, think in Hindi film dialogues, and treat Kannada as a subject to be endured in school rather than a culture to be lived. The IT revolution that national parties celebrated as progress has turned our cities into linguistic wastelands where being Kannadiga is almost an embarrassment. Our water flows to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh while our farmers commit suicide. Our resources have been exploited by mining corporations while local communities remain impoverished. We have become a destination for job seekers from other states, yet our own people often feel like outsiders in the opportunities created on our soil. This is the "development" that national parties promised us. The Congress gave away our rightful territories to neighboring states, allowed our rivers to be diverted, and watched silently as Kannada was pushed to the margins. The BJP, now positioning itself as our defender, has since its formation in 1980 promoted Hindi imposition and built an ideology fundamentally premised on Sanskrit cultural supremacy. Their sudden outrage over linguistic chauvinism is breathtakingly hypocritical - they condemn Tamil supremacist claims while their entire worldview reduces all Indian languages to mere branches of the Sanskrit tree. 

The Cultural Colonization 

What we are witnessing is not just political betrayal but cultural colonization. National parties have trained us to see ourselves through the lens of their ideologies rather than our own interests. We celebrate when they throw us occasional crumbs - a Kannada film gets national recognition, a Kannadiga becomes a central minister - while ignoring the systematic dismantling of our cultural ecosystem. We have internalized their priorities so completely that we measure our progress by how well we integrate into their national narratives rather than how successfully we preserve and promote our distinct identity. This is perhaps the most insidious aspect of our subjugation - we have become complicit in our own marginalization. 

The Current Charade 

This latest controversy perfectly encapsulates our predicament. A Tamil politician makes a supremacist claim about our language, and the BJP's response reeks of hypocrisy - they condemn linguistic chauvinism while their core ideology is built on the very same premise of one culture's superiority over others. Their defense of Kannada is purely tactical, emerging only when it serves their broader anti-Dravidian political strategy. Meanwhile, the Congress exemplifies this perfectly - they announced job quota legislation with great fanfare in July 2024, only to put it "on hold" within days due to industry pressure, and nearly ten months later, it remains unimplemented despite repeated promises. Both parties ultimately treat regional sentiment as one factor among many in their broader political equations, quick to promise but slow to deliver when faced with powerful lobbies. 

The Regional Alternative We Never Chose 

Other states learned this lesson long ago. Tamil Nadu chose regional parties and preserved both their language and their interests within the Indian Union. West Bengal transitioned from Congress to CPI(M) to TMC, with each period bringing strong regional identity. Even Jharkhand, despite being a younger state, has regional parties like the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha that prioritize tribal and local interests. We alone remained "nationalist," voting for parties whose power centers lie in Delhi, whose priorities are determined by UP and Maharashtra, whose understanding of regional issues is filtered through bureaucratic reports rather than lived experience. We mistook this loyalty for patriotism while it was actually self-destruction. Imagine if Karnataka had produced strong regional parties that put Kannada interests first. Imagine leaders whose political survival depended entirely on Kannadiga welfare rather than high commands in Delhi. Imagine policies crafted in Vidhan Soudha rather than translated from Delhi's directives. 

The Price of Our Misplaced Trust 

Today, when our language is insulted, we must depend on the same national parties that have weakened us to defend our honor. When our water is stolen, we must petition the same central leadership that approved the theft. When our culture is threatened, we must hope that our issues align with the national political calculations of parties whose primary constituencies lie elsewhere. This is not governance; this is colonization with our consent. 

A Call for Awakening 

The time has come to acknowledge the harsh truth: national parties will never prioritize Karnataka's interests over their broader political calculations. Our welfare will always be subordinated to their national strategies. Our identity will always be expendable when it conflicts with their ideological commitments. This controversy should serve as a wake-up call. If we cannot even get a unified defense of our language without it being filtered through Delhi's political prisms, what hope do we have for addressing our more complex challenges? We need leaders whose primary allegiance is to Karnataka, not those who see us as one of many states to be managed. We need parties whose existence depends on Kannadiga satisfaction, not on balancing regional demands against national compulsions.

Reclaiming Our Destiny 

Other regional movements have shown that strong regional identity strengthens rather than weakens the nation. Tamil Nadu's fierce regional pride hasn't made it less Indian; it has made it a more confident partner in the Indian federation. It's time we learned this lesson. The insulting of Kannada by external forces is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is our political dependency on parties that have trained us to measure our worth by their standards rather than our own. Until we develop the political courage to choose leaders who are answerable only to us, we will continue to be subjects rather than citizens, petitioners rather than partners, and minorities in our own homeland. The question is not whether Kannada originated from Tamil or Sanskrit. The question is whether Kannadigas will continue to allow others to define our destiny. 

Written by a Kannadiga who has watched seven decades of misplaced political loyalty slowly but surely rob us of our rightful place in our own land.