Siddaramaiah slams railways for cancelling exams over Kannada row
Bengaluru, March 17 : Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday criticised the Railway Department for abruptly cancelling promotion examinations for railway employees after protests by Kannada organisations over the denial of an option to write the test in Kannada.
In a statement, Siddaramaiah said the examinations scheduled for promotion to 194 Goods Train Manager posts in the South Western Railway, and 101 Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE) posts in the Hubballi division were cancelled at the last moment following strong opposition from Kannadigas and Kannada organisations.
He said the sudden cancellation had left Kannada employees in a state of uncertainty.
According to the Chief Minister, thousands of Kannada-speaking railway employees had earlier objected to the denial of an opportunity to write the examination in Kannada. However, the Railway Department allegedly ignored peaceful protests and representations made by employees and organisations.
Siddaramaiah said cancelling the examination just as it was about to begin had created confusion and placed Kannada employees in a difficult situation.
He added that the situation could have been avoided if the Railway Department had recognised the issue earlier and allowed candidates to write the examination in Kannada.
He said that if the department had corrected its mistake at the outset and permitted the exam in Kannada, the present situation would not have arisen. Instead, it ignored the concerns of Kannadigas and cancelled the examination hurriedly after protests intensified, which he described as condemnable.
Siddaramaiah also alleged that Kannada job aspirants have been facing discrimination in several examinations conducted by Central government departments due to what he described as the Centre’s policy of favouring Hindi.
He said Kannadigas have repeatedly raised their voice against such practices and sought justice.
The Chief Minister expressed disappointment that the issue had arisen even when V. Somanna from Karnataka is serving as the Minister of State for Railways.
He said it was extremely unfortunate that the Railway Department had adopted an anti-Kannada stance and caused injustice to Kannada, Karnataka and Kannadigas even when a Kannadiga was the Minister of State for Railways.
Siddaramaiah said he had hoped Somanna would stand by Kannadigas and help resolve the issue.
He further said the Centre’s policy of allowing only Hindi and English in many examinations conducted by Central government departments amounted to linguistic imposition.
He said Kannadigas had already experienced the consequences of the Central government’s affection for Hindi and its indifferent attitude towards regional languages, including Kannada. Allowing only Hindi and English in examinations conducted by the Centre to benefit Hindi-speaking regions, he said, was unacceptable.
The Chief Minister said India is a union of states formed largely on linguistic lines and stressed that the imposition of one language over another cannot be accepted.
He said that while Kannadigas were not opposed to Hindi as a language, they would not tolerate the imposition of Hindi over Kannada.
Siddaramaiah urged the Central government to ensure that Kannada-speaking candidates are not subjected to injustice in the name of language in the future.
He called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the matter and issue strict directions to the concerned departments.
The Chief Minister demanded that the cancelled railway examinations be held again at the earliest and that candidates be given the option to write them in Kannada.