Telugus in Tamil Nadu take their fight for Linguistic Rights to a new High

Taking their fight for their linguistic rights to a new high, the Telugu community of Tamil Nadu has announced a massive protest programme on November 1 in Hosur, considered as the Telugu heartland of the neighbouring State.

The programme is planned under the banner of Tamil Nadu Telugu Yuvasakthi (TNTY). “November 1 is the date when Andhra Pradesh was carved out of Madras on linguistic basis, but we do not enjoy any linguistic rights there. That’s why we chose that date,” TNTY president Kethireddy Jagadishwar Reddy told The Hindu . YSR Congress legislators Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, R.K. Roja, CPI national leader K. Narayana and film producer Thammareddy Bharadwaja, while Hosur MLA G. Gopinath, who is famous for persistently speaking in Telugu in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, is expected to take the lead.

The furore started with the ‘Tamil Learning Act 2006’ passed by the then DMK government which made learning Tamil under Part-I compulsory, part-II English compulsory from I to X standard in a phased manner. Students with mother tongue other than Tamil can learn their respective languages under part-IV as an optional subject, but their marks will not appear in the score card, the Act said. There are around 1,500 villages in Krishnagiri district bordering AP with high Telugu and Kannada speaking population living since hundreds of years, even before the division of composite Madras State. Linguistic minorities such as Telugu and Kannada speaking people are widely present in 173 revenue villages in Hosur and 93 revenue villages in Denkanikottai taluk. “The second order issued in 2010, making it mandatory for students from VI to X class to compulsorily study Tamil as part-I and English as part-II electives, but it does not state under which medium of language the other three subjects are to be studied,” Mr. Reddy said. He recently visited Tirupati and dropped a representation in the ‘Srivari Hundi’ at Alipiri..

Unlike the other States where three-language format is in practice, Tamil Nadu offers only two languages. “Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu C.N. Annadurai allowed mother tongue as the first language and English as the second language, but now the government is trampling on our right to study our mother tongue by making Tamil compulsory subject,” Mr. Reddy said.

The Tamil population is only 36 p.c. in the State, while the rest comprises 42 p.c. Telugus, 8 p.c. Urdu-speaking Muslims, besides Kannadigas, Malayalis and Saurashtrians (in Madurai belt), while blaming a group of ‘language fanatic’ for being hale-bent on implementing the rule, he pointed out.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/telugus-in-tn-plan-stir-on-linguistic-rights/article7820558.ece

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Telugu on the verge of extinction in Tamil Nadu?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV7yojYZdi4

Rashmun wrote:Taking their fight for their linguistic rights to a new high, the Telugu community of Tamil Nadu has announced a massive protest programme on November 1 in Hosur, considered as the Telugu heartland of the neighbouring State.

The programme is planned under the banner of Tamil Nadu Telugu Yuvasakthi (TNTY). “November 1 is the date when Andhra Pradesh was carved out of Madras on linguistic basis, but we do not enjoy any linguistic rights there. That’s why we chose that date,” TNTY president Kethireddy Jagadishwar Reddy told The Hindu . YSR Congress legislators Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, R.K. Roja, CPI national leader K. Narayana and film producer Thammareddy Bharadwaja, while Hosur MLA G. Gopinath, who is famous for persistently speaking in Telugu in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, is expected to take the lead.

The furore started with the ‘Tamil Learning Act 2006’ passed by the then DMK government which made learning Tamil under Part-I compulsory, part-II English compulsory from I to X standard in a phased manner. Students with mother tongue other than Tamil can learn their respective languages under part-IV as an optional subject, but their marks will not appear in the score card, the Act said. There are around 1,500 villages in Krishnagiri district bordering AP with high Telugu and Kannada speaking population living since hundreds of years, even before the division of composite Madras State. Linguistic minorities such as Telugu and Kannada speaking people are widely present in 173 revenue villages in Hosur and 93 revenue villages in Denkanikottai taluk. “The second order issued in 2010, making it mandatory for students from VI to X class to compulsorily study Tamil as part-I and English as part-II electives, but it does not state under which medium of language the other three subjects are to be studied,” Mr. Reddy said. He recently visited Tirupati and dropped a representation in the ‘Srivari Hundi’ at Alipiri..

Unlike the other States where three-language format is in practice, Tamil Nadu offers only two languages. “Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu C.N. Annadurai allowed mother tongue as the first language and English as the second language, but now the government is trampling on our right to study our mother tongue by making Tamil compulsory subject,” Mr. Reddy said.

The Tamil population is only 36 p.c. in the State, while the rest comprises 42 p.c. Telugus, 8 p.c. Urdu-speaking Muslims, besides Kannadigas, Malayalis and Saurashtrians (in Madurai belt), while blaming a group of ‘language fanatic’ for being hale-bent on implementing the rule, he pointed out.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/telugus-in-tn-plan-stir-on-linguistic-rights/article7820558.ece

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"Shameful" is my response to the words in bold.

CHENNAI: Hosur legislator K Gopinath stunned the Assembly on Friday by speaking in Telugu and Kannada and recited a poem in English, praising Chief Minister Karunanidhi and sought second language status to Telugu in Tamil Nadu.

Participating in the discussion on the demand for grant for school education department, Congress MLA Gopinath opened his speech by offering his ‘special pranams’ to Karunanidhi, the ‘architect of the new Secretariat complex’ in Telugu and later switched to Kannada.

He also often spoke a sentence or two in Tamil and Hindi and continued in English. He finally ended up speaking in five languages.

He urged the government to allow study of Telugu and Kannada under part-I, which is the language of a majority of people in Hosur.

He clarified that the people were willing to learn Tamil and urged that Telugu be made the second language in the State.

Prior permission

Incidentally, even as Gopinath was addressing the House in Telugu, AIADMK members, including C V Shanmugam, were on their feet demanding attention.

Speaker R Avudaiappan said the member had been given permission under rule 86 to speak in Telugu and added that a copy of his speech in English was available with him.

Shanmugam said his party did not question the member speaking in Telugu. He demanded to know why they were not given a translated copy of Gopinath’s speech when he spoke in five different languages.


http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/article195870.ece

In TN they should study Tamil,

K. Gopinath, the MLA representing Hosur constituency in Tamil Nadu, made news after persistently raising queries in Telugu in the legislative assembly, unmindful of his fellow legislators booing him down. Hosur is located at the confluence of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and is almost the neighbour of the Kuppam segment, represented by TDP chief N.Chandrababu Naidu.

The Congress legislative party leader is apparently the odd man out in Tamil Nadu’s House, which is known for its overt love of Tamil language and culture. Not only does he elicit the problem of his people in chaste Telugu, he also solicits a reply in the same language from none other than Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who then translates the message for the benefit of other members of the House.

On the sidelines of the 4th World Telugu Conference, Mr. Gopinath spoke to ‘The Hindu’ on the problems plaguing Telugus living beyond the frontiers of the Telugu land. While the Telugu population is 40 per cent in Tamil Nadu, it touches a whopping 80 per cent in Hosur constituency, but the government has done precious little to preserve their identity. “Telugu was initially made an optional language at the school level, but our demand is to make it the second language. The arrangement worked out is to answer for 450 marks in Telugu and the remaining 50 marks in Tamil, which is awaiting implementation,” he informed, indicating that Telugus had no objection to learning Tamil, the State’s official language but they were only against thrusting it on the Telugu population.

On the personal front, Mr. Gopinath speaks Telugu with his family at home, but foresees dark days in taking the language to the next generation. “Telugu people exist even in Tamil hinterland, say Madurai, Rajapalayam, Coimbatore, Tanjavur and Salem, but only the seniors speak Telugu while the younger lot are oblivious to their native language,” a worried Gopinath said.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/the-telugu-man-in-the-tamil-house/article4254808.ece

The state Assembly in Tamil Nadu, known for its opposition to imposition of Hindi, today witnessed a rare spectacle of a member and a Minister using multiple languages, including Hindi and Urdu, during a debate. Congress member K Gopinath, representing Hosur on Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, started speaking in chaste Tamil about basic amenities for a school in his constituency. Finding it difficult to put across his views in Tamil, which was not his mother tongue, he switched over to Telugu and then Urdu and Hindi. School Education Minister K C Veeramani also responded in all the three languages -- Telugu, Hindu and Urdu -- amid thumping of desks by ruling AIADMK members. Aslam Basha (Manithaneya Makkal Katchi) also intervened and started talking in Urdu. At this stage, Deputy Speaker Pollachi Jayaraman, who was in the chair, intervened and urged the Minister and the MLA to converse in Tamil, saying he can only understand Tamil, leading to a round of laughter in the House.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/minister-mla-speak-in-hindu-urdu-in-tn-assembly/1/462863.html

When a Congress legislator broke down in the Tamil Nadu Assembly while explaining the plight of Telugu-speaking school children, everyone knew it was not ''crocodile tears'' the politicians were known for ''shedding''.

Mr K Gopinath, representing Hosur Constituency, took everyone by surprise in the House when he turned emotional and broke down while taking part in the debate on the demand for grants for School Education Department. The member was narrating the problems faced by the more than one lakh Telugu-speaking children in various schools in his constituency after the State Government introduced Tamil as the medium of instruction.

As the Speaker cut him short stating he was running out of time, the member pleaded to allow him to have his say saying it was an important issue, concerning the lives of more than a lakh of students and 2,500 teachers. As the Speaker asked him to resume his seat, the member, whose mother tongue was Telugu, turned emotional and broke down before resuming his seat.

On seeing the member weeping in his seat, Speaker R Avudaiyappan said ''Mr Gopinath is weeping'' and invited him to complete his speech. The member stood up to continue his speech, but words failed him as he continued to cry. Intervening, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu said the government shared his concern and would do everthing to redress the issue.

Earlier, the member created a flutter when he began his speech in Telugu. When the Speaker said the member should have got his permission in advance to speak in Telugu, he switched to Tamil but not before Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S Arumugam saying the member knew Tamil very well.

http://www.oneindia.com/2008/04/24/cong-mla-breaks-down-on-telugu-school-kids-language-issue-1209044070.html

Rasmun,

You seem to be the reincarnation of Narathamuni.

Kayalvizhi wrote:Rasmun,

You seem to be the reincarnation of Narathamuni.

thanks for the compliment. i will cherish it. on a more serious note, what do you think of the idea of selecting regions in Tamil Nadu where there is a Telugu majority (places like Hosur) and handing these over to Andhra Pradesh?

The State reorganization commission based state boundaries on the basis of population at that time. We cannot go on redrawing boundaries. We do not ask for any territories in neighboring countries Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka, We will not cede anything to them.

Kayalvizhi wrote:The State reorganization commission based state boundaries on the basis of population at that time. We cannot go on redrawing boundaries. We do not ask for any territories in neighboring countries Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka, We will not cede anything to them.

only recently the state boundaries were redrawn and Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. 80 % of the people in Hosur are Telugus as per a Hindu article which i have given earlier in this thread. Given this situation, it seems logical for Tamil Nadu to give Hosur and other telugu majority areas to Andhra Pradesh to compensate for AP's loss of  Telangana. This will will help avoid the chaotic atmosphere in the Tamil Nadu assembly due to the Hosur legislator insisting on speaking in Telugu and then his comments having to be translated into Tamil for the benefit of other members of the house. It will also avoid unnecessary waste of time with respect to telugus complaining that their children are not able to study telugu in schools in Tamil Nadu.

i am impressed also by the fact that 40% of the people in Tamil Nadu are telugus as per two Hindu articles i have given in this thread (actually, one article put the figure at 40% and the other at 42%). it is apparent that non-Tamils comprise the majority of Tamil Nadu's population. As one of the Hindu article says:

The Tamil population is only 36 p.c. in the State, while the rest comprises 42 p.c. Telugus, 8 p.c. Urdu-speaking Muslims, besides Kannadigas, Malayalis and Saurashtrians (in Madurai belt), while blaming a group of ‘language fanatic’ for being hale-bent on implementing the rule, he pointed out.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/telugus-in-tn-plan-stir-on-linguistic-rights/article7820558.ece

People who settled in 1956 are illegal or legal immigrants, not citizens of TN.