Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) celebrated Kannada Rajyotsava, the birth anniversary of Karnataka, by distributing cards to help non-Kannadiga auto commuters learn Kannada on Friday, November 1.
Over 5,000 autorickshaws will have these cards installed, which teach essential Kannada phrases to assist non-Kannadigas in commuting more easily while learning the language.
In a video shared by Kamakhsipalaya traffic police on X, a police officer wearing a shawl in the Karnataka state colours hands cards to an auto driver.
The joint commissioner of traffic police, Bengaluru, shared the card in a post on X, showing the phrases that would help non-Kannadiga citizens learn the language and embrace the state’s culture.
Karnataka celebrated “Kannada Rajyotsava” on Friday, commemorating the formation of the Kannada-speaking state on November 1, 1956.
Various state government departments, including the Bengaluru metro, also have launched similar initiatives, encouraging non-Kannada-speaking persons living in Bengaluru to learn Kannada.
Bengaluru Metro displayed videos inside the metro trains with translations of basic Kannada words and phrases in its efforts to promote the state’s language.
The state of Karnataka, especially the city of Bengaluru has been witnessing increased Kannada activism in recent years.
The South Indian language, which gained classical status in 2008, is subjected to an increased amount of controversies, partly due to the influx of a non-Kannada-speaking population in the city of Bengaluru. Local Kannada nationalists however are unhappy over the newly settled persons in the city not speaking the local language, and the locals instead, have to speak in Hindi or English.
The ‘Kannada pride’ has led to multiple accounts of violence, and hostility as well, after the Kannada activism was taken up by right-wingers.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Parameswaran Valeri | 
