Several members of Parliament, MLAs and Kannada activists took up the with the Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The Kerala government has not received any proposal to change the names of villages and towns in Kasaragod district that have Kannada names, a legislator has said, according to a newspaper. Prajavani reported that AKM Ashraf, an MLA from Manjeshwar, denied there was ever any demand or move to change the names of towns and villages in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar constituencies.
“These names are part of our culture and heritage. Why will anybody try to change them into Malayali names?” Ashraf, who represents Manjeshwar in the state assembly, said in a Facebook post, reported Prajavani. “The DC has clarified to me that the confusion over the matter was due to misinformation and there is no move to change the names,” Ashraf noted in the post.
Pro-Kannada people in the Kasaragod district have welcomed Ashraf’s statement, according to the report.
On Monday, Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa wrote to his counterpart in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, appealing to him not to change the Kannada names. Following his appeal, Vijayan directed Kerala’s chief secretary to ask the Kasaragod district collector (DC) to shed more light on the matter.
Several members of Parliament, MLAs and Kannada activists took up the with thPinarayi Vijayan. HD Kumaraswamy, former Karnataka CM, also sought clarification on the matter which led to the issue escalating, Ashraf claimed. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s members of Parliament Pralhad Joshi, Nalin Kumar Kateel, and Pratap Simha also took up the issue with the Kerala chief minister.
Kannada activists in Bengaluru and Mysuru said they suspected that Kasaragod district will affect changes in the names of 22 villages on the border between Karnataka and Kerala including Mangaluru, Sullia and Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, and Kodagu, Mysuru, and Chamarajanagar districts.
