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Bangalore gives English the big boot

It's war, all out and no-holds-barred. Against English, that 'detestable language of the West'.

In Bangalore, the government-funded Kannada Development Authority has borrowed a leaf from Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's book and is ploughing ahead with its fight against 'Western influences.'

First target: All English sign-boards in the city. Which is why now you see shopkeepers all over busy replacing their English name-boards with ones in Kannada.

Headed by Leeds-educated English teacher Professor Chandrashekar Patil, the KDA -- which believes that 'English is endangering the local language' -- gave a token demonstration of what would befell vendors if they failed to display Kannada boards more prominently than those firangi ones.

Professor Patil and his men went around Mahatma Gandhi road, Brigade road and Commercial street -- the three upmarket shopping enclaves in the city -- and pulled down English boards and banners.

Currently, the punishment for displaying signboards in other languages is a fine of Rs 250. After December 10, the penalty is likely to go up.

Politicians, meanwhile, appear to have realised the potential of this pro-Kannada move, and is jumping on fast to Professor Patil's bandwagon. The other day, a Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha legislator thought it quite fit to be photographed splashing petrol on English signboards and setting them alight. With pro-Kannada outfits like the militant Kannada Shakti Kendra and the Rajkumar Fans Association, too, lending support, the KDA's 'movement' has gained a huge momentum.

The next on the anti-West agenda, sources say, is to revive the 100 per cent job reservation proposal for Kannadigas. Industry Minister R V Deshpande had introduced the proposition two years ago, but the government had let it hang fire.

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