Tamil megastar and politician Kamal Haasan has courted a controversy with his "Kannada was born out of Tamil" remark at an event in Chennai.
Speaking at the audio launch of his latest film Thug Life in Chennai , he started with "Uyire Urave Tamizhe," meaning, "My life and my family is Tamil language."
He went on to add, “Actor Shivarajkumar is my family living in another state. That’s why he is here. That’s why when I started my speech, I said ‘my life and my family is Tamil’. Your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil. So you are included in that line.”
The comments invited sharp criticism in Karnataka.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party President B Y Vijayendra accused Kamal Haasan of "disrespecting" Kannada in his effort to glorify his own mother tongue.
The BJP leader also demanded that the actor issue an “unconditional apology to Kannadigas immediately”.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), he said: “Artists should have the culture of respecting every language. It is the height of arrogance that actor @ikamalhaasan, who has acted in many Indian languages, including Kannada, has insulted Kannada.”
He also said Kannada is a prominent language in many parts of the world, including India, for centuries.
“Kamal Haasan, who supposedly brings harmony to South India, has been continuously insulting Hinduism and hurting religious sentiments for the past few years. Now, he has insulted Kannada by hurting the self-respect of 6.5 crore Kannadigas. Kamal Haasan should immediately apologise unconditionally to Kannadigas," wrote the BJP chief.
Vijayendra also said Haasan is not a historian to tell with authority which language gave birth to which language.
“Kannada language, which has a history of more than two and a half thousand years, symbolises prosperity and represents harmony on the map of India. Let us remind Kamal Haasan that Kannadigas are not language haters, but they never sacrifice self-respect when it comes to their land, language, people, water, and ideas,” he said.
Incidentally, Haasan was in Bengaluru on Tuesday to promote ‘Thuglife'.
According to Praveen Shetty, President of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Praveen Shetty faction), the actor had left the venue before the members of his organisation could confront him.
“Today we are giving a strong warning to him. You want to do business in Karnataka and show your movies, stop insulting Kannada and Kannadigas. You were here to promote a movie, but departed even before the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike reached there to blacken your face,” he said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
With inputs from PTI
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