Mangaluru: Congress MLC Ivan D’Souza on Sunday urged BJP-elected representatives from coastal Karnataka to take up the demand for including Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and pursue the matter with Union govt.Speaking to reporters at his office, D’Souza recalled that he had raised the issue in the Legislative Council through a question and later through a calling attention motion in 2014.He said the then Kannada and Culture minister Umashree had informed him that the chief minister had written to the Union home minister in December 2013, seeking the inclusion of Tulu in the Eighth Schedule.The state govt had also informed him that a committee had been constituted to suggest uniform criteria for including 38 languages, including Tulu, in addition to the 22 languages already listed in the Eighth Schedule. An inter-ministerial committee was subsequently formed to examine the recommendations, he said.Welcoming the state govt’s move to recognise Tulu as its second language, D’Souza who addressed mediapersons initially in Tulu said the next challenge was to secure its inclusion in the Eighth Schedule.He urged BJP MPs, ministers and the state BJP president to raise the issue in Parliament. The state govt was ready to extend all necessary cooperation and, if required, pass another resolution in support of the demand, he said.D’Souza said inclusion in the Eighth Schedule would give greater recognition to Tulu speakers and enable the language to be used in legislative assemblies, legislative councils, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.He also alleged that BJP had treated the coastal region as a “laboratory of communalism” and a vote bank instead of prioritising its development. In contrast, he said, Congress govt was seeking to transform the region into a “laboratory of development”.Responding to the Opposition’s criticism that ministers visited Mangaluru only to eat fish and its reference to the meeting as “touring talkies”, D’Souza said projects worth around Rs 32,611 crore had been announced. “They are jealous now. There was a triple-engine government here earlier. What did it do?” he asked.
