'Not a National language': Karnataka ministers slam Ajay Devgn over Hindi tweet

Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn, who's awaiting the release of his upcoming film, 'Runway 34', on Thursday, got into a war of words with South star Kichcha Sudeepa after the latter's comment on Hindi no longer being India's national language.

As per media reports, during an event, Sudeepa stated that "Hindi is no more a national language." Following this, Devgn took to his Twitter handle and expressed his views on Sudeepa's comment.

In Hindi, he wrote, "Kiccha Sudeep, my brother, according to you, if Hindi is not our national language then why do you release your native language [mother tongue] films by dubbing them in Hindi? Hindi was, is and always will be our mother tongue and national language. Jan Gan Man."

Now reacting to his tweet, two former Karnataka Chief Ministers have slammed Devgn and pointed out that Hindi is not India's national language.

HD Kumaraswamy backed Kannada actor Sudeep Sanjeev's remark that Hindi is not the national language and directly attacked the Bollywood actor, calling him a BJP mouthpiece. "Ajay Devgn blabbered as a mouthpiece of BJP's Hindi Nationalism of one nation, one tax, one language & one government," Mr Kumaraswamy said in a tweet.

While former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah weighed in on the debate, saying Hindi will "never be our National Language".

"Hindi was never & will never be our National Language. It is the duty of every Indian to respect 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!! ", Siddaramaiah tweeted.

The controversy started after Sudeep answered a question on KGF 2 being called a pan-India film. He said Hindi is no more a national language and Bollywood should say they are doing pan-India films (by dubbing their films in other languages).

As per media reports, during an event, Sudeepa stated that "Hindi is no more a national language." Following this, Devgn took to his Twitter handle and expressed his views on Sudeepa's comment.

Meanwhile, Ram Gopal Varma was not impressed with Ajay Devgn and Kichcha Sudeep's Twitter war. Taking Sudeep's side, Ram Gopal Varma wrote on Twitter late Wednesday, "The base undeniable ground truth @KicchaSudeep sir, is that the north stars are insecure and jealous of the south stars because a Kannada dubbing film #KGF2 had a 50 crore opening day and we all are going to see the coming opening days of Hindi films."

In another Tweet, RGV mentioned that he belies India is one. His tweet read, "Nothing can drive the point better than ur question on ,what if you answer in Kannada to a Hindi tweet from @ajaydevgn .. Kudos to you and I hope everyone realises there’s no north and south and india is 1."

The debate on Hindi imposition exploded again after Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently said that Hindi, and not local languages, should be accepted as an alternative to English. Opposition parties slammed the remark, calling it an assault on India's pluralism and asserting they will thwart the move to impose "Hindi imperialism".