Former Infosys Chief Financial Officer Mohandas Pai on Wednesday said the Kannada language is important, but there should not be any violence over it. His reaction came after pro-Kannada activists created massive violence in parts of Bengaluru over signboards, which they demanded should be in the local language instead of English. They tore down signboards in English and smashed glass windows of malls, shops, and showrooms in different prominent commercial hubs such as MG Road, Brigade Road, Lavelle Road, Chickpet, and UB City.
Alok Mishra, an author and poet, said that this was a sad and sorry state of a state known for IT, international business offices, and tech heads of the country. "Yes, you can protest and 'demand' things as per your whims. There's a way, my friends. And this is certainly not one of the possible ways. Create panic and investors might look a different way," he said in a post on X.
Reacting to this, Bhaskar Rao, former Commissioner of Police-Bangalore, said local language has first priority. 'Go see Europe and then talk...,' he said.
Mohandas Pai replied to Rao and asked him why he was silent on the violence. "Yes local language is important but why are you quiet about such violence?" The former Infosys executive further said that the issue was the violence and lack of police protection, not language. "We must respect Kannada but no violence."
Rao then said that vandalism, violence, destruction of property, and intimidation were not acceptable. He alleged that the police were made mute spectators by a "clueless and helpless State Home Minister". "This is totally sponsored to divert attention of serious issues and everyone has fallen for it," Rao said.
Srinivas S, an entrepreneur, joined the conversation and said that a cab driver from Chennai shared the pain - "we were schooled not to learn Hindi and now we are struggling to communicate with North Indians." He said nothing was wrong with local language pride but not at the cost of growth. "We can't compare with rich Europe which is giving business to the world."
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah warned of strict action against those who went against the law. "I don't know what they (the protestors) are doing. I have got information that Narayana Gowda is protesting about having Kannada name boards. We will take action against those who took the law into their own hands and went against the law," Siddaramaiah said.