Kamal Haasan reacts to Kannada-Tamil row: Politicians are not qualified to talk about language
&w=752&h=564&format=webp&quality=medium "Kamal Haasan reacts to Kannada-Tamil row: Politicians are not qualified to talk about language")
Kamal Haasan reacted to the ongoing row over his remarks on Kannada language and clarified he spoke ‘out of love’.
Veteran actor Kamal Haasan has been facing backlash over his remark on how the Kannada language was born out of Tamil. The remark made during a promotional event of his film Thug Life led to severe criticism, with the BJP Karnataka chief demanding an apology from the actor. Now, on Wednesday, the actor reacted to the row and clarified he spoke ‘out of love’ and that politicians such as him should leave such discussions to language experts.
Tamil-Kannada controversy
During the audio launch of Thug Life in Chennai, Kamal Haasan claimed that 'Tamil gave birth to Kannada". He addressed the presence of Kannada actor Shivarajkumar at the event and had said, "This is my family. That’s why he (Shivarajkumar) is here. That’s why I began my speech with life, relationship, and Tamil. Your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil, so you too are included."
The actor received flak from several political parties and pro-Kannada outfits who demanded that he apologise for hurting the sentiments of the linguistic community.
Kamal Haasan reacts
"What I said was said out of love and a lot of historians have taught me language history. I didn't mean anything. Tamil Nadu is a state where a Menon has been our chief minister, where a Reddy has been our chief minister, a Tamil has been our CM, and a Kannadiga Iyengar has been our CM,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
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“Politicians are not qualified to talk about language. They don't have the qualifications to talk about it, including me. Let us leave all these very in-depth discussions to historians, archaeologists and language experts," he added.
Pro-Kannada outfits, politicians demand apology
Kamal Haasan's comments sparked outrage among several pro-Kannada outfits. These groups staged protests against Haasan in various parts of the state, like Belagavi, Mysuru, Hubballi, Bengaluru, among others.
The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) threatened to boycott Haasan’s films across Karnataka unless he issued an unconditional apology.
Karnataka's chief minister Siddaramaiah, also took a dig at Haasan and said, "Kannada has a long-standing history. Poor Kamal Haasan, he is unaware of it."
BJP state president Vijayendra Yediyurappa condemned Haasan’s comments as "uncultured" and accused the actor of "disrespecting" and "hurting the self-respect of 6.5 crore Kannadigas" in an attempt to "glorify his own mother tongue." He also demanded an apology from the actor.
Congress MLA from Karnataka, Rizwan Arshad, expressed his disappointment over the remark and said, “What kind of a debate is this? The Kannada language has a history of thousands of years... Kannada and Tamil are ancient languages and part of our country's foundation... Is this debate necessary at a time when all of us have to be united? ... I did not expect Kamal Haasan to make such a statement. It is unfortunate.”
