Bengaluru: Former Chief Minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah took strong objections to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy over his move to introduce English medium in 1,000 government schools from the next academic year across the State.

The opposition of the former Chief Minister over this issue had indicated there is no clarity and consensus over many issues among coalition partners according to observations from political pundits.

Speaking after distributing books free-of-cost to the readers at the programme organised by Kannada Book Development Authority yesterday, he said he would discuss with Chief Minister in this regard to get sort out this issue as various eminent Kannada writers and activists urging the State Government to withdraw the decision and to teach English only as a language from  primary classes.

Siddaramaiah had also took to Twitter to criticise the decision of the CM, saying, “I have studied in Kannada medium till high school. Am I an idiot?”  

In the first tweet on last Thursday evening, Siddaramaiah wrote: “We should have clarity on learning Kannada language and Kannada medium (of instruction). I have studied in Kannada medium till high school. Am I (Has it made me) an idiot? Kannada should be the sovereign language in Karnataka.”

In the second tweet, he said, “Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has said that 1,000 English medium schools will be started from the next academic year in the State. I will discuss this   with him.”

About a week ago, eminent Kannada writers had met in Bengaluru and expressed their reservations over the decision of the State Government. Following the meeting, the writers had decided to send a delegation led by Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Manu Baligar to meet the CM and urge him to withdraw the decision. They had threatened to launch an agitation against the government if their demands were not fulfilled.

This is not the first time that Siddaramaiah has been critical of the decisions made by the coalition government led by Kumaraswamy.

Apart from being critical of increase in fuel cess and others, he was also opposed to the interim budget presented in June.

The Karnataka State Government announced recently that it would ensure that English is used as the medium of language in government schools.

The initiative seeks to try out English-medium sections in 1,000 government schools at first, and will be applicable to all classes, including Kindergarten.

In the budget announcement too, the Kumaraswamy Government also said that it has identified around 28,847 government and aided schools with low admission rates and will merge them with 8,530 other schools closest to them.

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