Kichcha Sudeepa lauds PM Modi's appeal on language row; 'It felt good to hear those words'

On April 27, 2022, seasoned Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn tweeted, ''According to you if Hindi is not our national language then why do you release your mother tongue movies by dubbing them in Hindi? Hindi was, is and always will be our mother tongue and national language,'' in response to Sandalwood actor Kichcha Sudeepa's alleged 'Hindi is no more a national language' comment.

This was followed by a fervent back and forth between the two stars that broke out a country-wide language debate involving notable personalities across the film industry and politics. Almost a month after the public exchange, Sandalwood star Kichcha Sudeepa broke silence over his comments in an exclusive chat with Republic Media Network.

Sudeepa lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments that all Indian languages are the soul of Indianness.

Kichcha Sudeepa lauds PM Modi's appeal to language row

The 48-year-old actor lauded PM Modi's candid opinion on the language row by stating in Kannada, ''For everyone, their language is like their mother. That doesn't mean we don't respect or take pride in other languages. It felt good to hear these words from PM Modi.''

He also stressed the importance and significance that every language holds in the country and pointed out that one needs to respect every language equally. ''In India, all languages have their respective position. No one can take away that status or disrespect other languages. When we wish for our language to be respected, shouldn't we learn to respect other languages as well?'' he concluded. 

PM Modi's statement on language row

During his address at a meeting of the national office-bearers of the BJP in Jaipur on Friday via video conferencing, PM Modi said, ''In the past few days, we have seen that attempts are being made to spark controversies over languages. We need to make people aware of this. BJP sees a reflection of Indian culture in every regional language and a link to a better future for the nation."

''It is BJP which has linked India's culture and languages with nation's respect for the first time. In New Education Policy (NEP) we are giving importance to regional languages. This shows our commitment to every regional language,'' he concluded.

Image: Republic World/PTI