Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the BJP and RSS would face the full force of his party if they attacked the people of Karnataka and their language.
His warning comes days after JDS leader Kumaraswamy alleged that the central Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exam was being held only in Hindi and English and not in any regional language.
Addressing a public meeting in Molakalmuru town in Chitradurga district as part of ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra,' Gandhi said unemployed youth asked him why they cannot give their tests in Kannada.
He opined that people should be allowed to write their tests in Kannada for, a language is not just what you use to converse with each other.
A language is history, culture, it is imagination and nobody should be allowed to stop people from speaking in their language.
“These are some ideas the BJP and the RSS are promoting. For them Kannada is a secondary language. It is not to be respected. For us, Kannada is of primary importance.
If the BJP and the RSS think that they can attack the Kannada language, they can attack the people of Karnataka, they can attack the history of Karnataka, they are going to face the full force of the Congress party,” the former Congress President said.
Nobody can dictate to the people of Karnataka how they should live their life, and nobody is going to tell the people of the state what language their children can write exams in, he told the gathering.
“If the people of Karnataka want to speak Kannada, if the people of Tamil Nadu want to speak Tamil and if the people of Kerala want to speak Malayalam then they should be allowed to do that."
Gandhi sought an explanation from the NDA government at the Centre as to why unemployment was highest in the last 45 years, in the country.
Claiming that the groundnut crops were ruined and tonnes of tomatoes were rotting on the road, he sought to know from the ruling BJP what it has done in Karnataka to help the farmers.
Gandhi also accused the BJP and the RSS of 'spreading hatred' in the country.
“We will not allow the BJP and the RSS to divide India and spread hatred in this country. Dividing this country is an act against the interest of this nation. It weakens this country, it does not strengthen this country,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
