Udupi: The Tulunada Rakshana Vedike staged a protest at the Service bus-stand on Monday, April 18 and demanded the Central government to include Tulu in the eighth Schedule of the Constitution to protect the identity of the language.
Yogish Shetty Jeppu founder president of the vedike addressing the gathering said that Tulu is a rich language and has a great history, one can find Tulu words being used in Greek dramas as this land had good bilateral relations with far-away nations. Tulu can not be included in the eighth schedule unless the language is declared as official language is wrong. Tulu should get official language status in the State. Tulu has all the eligibility criteria to be included in the eighth schedule as it is spoken by all irrespective of caste and religion.
He noted that in 1856, Robert Caldwell, in his work, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, said that Tulu was one of the well-developed Dravidian languages. The state government should take the lead and insist the Union government to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule. Tulu is a beautiful language and is also one among the five Dravidian language, he added.
Chittaranjandas Shetty Udupi district president, Azaruddin Subramanyangara, Prashanth Kadaba, Nazir Koteshwara, Anand Adyar, Siraz Adkare, Joythi Jain, Subhash, Chaithra and others were present.