Plain speak: Sudeep is right, Bommai on Hindi is our national language row

Bengaluru, Apr 28: Following a Twitter spat between actors Ajay Devgn and Kiccha Sudeep, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai has come out in support of the latter.

Our states were formed because of languages. Regional languages have been given importance.

Sudeep's statement is right and everyone should respect that, Bommai also said.

Janata Dal (S) leader, H D Kumaraswamy backed Sudeep and said that Hindi is not a national language. He also criticised Devgn for his behaviour and labelled him a mouthpiece of BJP's Hindi nationalism.
Actor @KicchaSudeep saying that Hindi is not a National Language is correct. There is nothing to find fault in his statement. Actor @ajaydevgn is not only hyper in nature but also shows his ludicrous behaviour, Kumaraswamy said in the first of his seven tweets.

Like Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam & Marathi, Hindi is also one of languages. India is a garden of several languages. Land of multi cultures. Let there be no attempts to disrupt this, he also said.

"Just because a large population speaks Hindi, it doesn't become a National Language. Less than 9 States, Kashmir-Kanyakumari, have Hindi as 2nd, 3rd language or not even that. This being situation what is the truth in Ajay Devgn's statement? What do you mean by not to dub," the former chief minister of the state said.

If Hindi is not the national language of India, why are movies made in different languages and eventually dubbed, Bollywood star Ajay Devgn said on Wednesday in response to a statement by south star Kichcha Sudeep.

"Hindi is no more our national language," Sudeep said at a film launch event last week when he was asked how he viewed the record-breaking pan-India success of the Kannada film "KGF: Chapter 2", the Hindi version of which alone has minted Rs 336 crore since its April 14 release. The film has reportedly earned Rs 850 crore worldwide.