'Hindi was, is and will be our national language.’ Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Sudeep's tweet battle escalates, politicians jump in

Ajay Devgn seems to have kickstarted a debate that has been at the center of political polarism for years now. The ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ star recently replied to Kannada actor Sudeep's comment that Hindi is not our national language and claimed that Sudeep was mistaken and the language was, is, and will always be “our mother tongue and national language”.

The reply came after Sudeep, during the trailer launch of his film, ‘R: The Deadliest Gangster Ever’ corrected a journalist who used the term ‘an-India’ to refer to the film, ‘K.G.F: Chapter 2’. Sudeep told the reporter, “everyone says that a Kannada film was made on a pan-India level but a small correction is that Hindi is not a national language anymore" which prompted the stern reply from Devgn, and has now snowballed into a political storm with several politicians weighing in, on the matter, and siding with Sudeep.

In his tweet, Devgn not only reiterated that according to him Hindi is the national language, but also questioned Sudeep. He asked, “According to you if Hindi is not our national language then why do you release your mother tongue movies by dubbing them in Hindi?”. Devgn tweeted out in Hindi, a language which isn’t Sudeep’s mother tongue.


In answer to Devgn’s tweet, Sudeep said that he had made the remark in a different context than how it reached him, and that it wasn't to "hurt, provoke or to start any debate".
However, the Kannada star was quick to point out that he did understand Devgn’s reply, even though it was written in Hindi because he had loved, respected and learnt the language. Sudeep then turned the table and asked the ‘Singham’ actor, “No offense sir…but was wondering what the situation would be if my response was typed in kannada? Don't we too belong to India, sir.”

While Sudeep chose to maintain a cordial tone, and skirted any controversy or bad blood with the Bollywood star, and Devgn fell silent soon after his first remark, several politicians have joined in the two actors’ conversation since then.

Former Karnataka chief minister, Siddaramaiah, chimed in and said that Hindi was never and will never be India's national language. The politician wrote, “It is the duty of every Indian to respect the linguistic diversity of our Country. Each language has its own rich history for its people to be proud of. I am proud to be a Kannadiga!!”
Another ex-CM of Karnataka, HD Kumaraswamy, also added that there was nothing wrong in Sudeep’s statement, and called Devgn ‘hyper’. He then wrote a Twitter thread on this issue.
Actor, and former member of Lok Sabha, Ramya also weighed in on the issue, and called Devgn’s ignorance baffling. She said that the fact that films like ‘RRR’ and ‘Pushpa’ have done so well in the Hindi belt is proof that art has no barriers.
Actor Sonu Sood too found it hard to side with Devgn.

Although he took a more diplomatic stance on the matter of Hindi being a national language, and told Indian Express in an interview, “I don’t think Hindi can be called just the national language. India has one language, which is entertainment. It doesn’t really matter which industry you belong to. If you entertain people, they will love you, honour you and accept you.”