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The controversy took a personal turn as the BJP’s comments on Urdu spoken at Karnataka health minister’s home were widely seen as a reference to his wife, Tabu Rao
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah dismissed the idea that he needed lessons in linguistic pride. (Image: News18)
A fresh language row has erupted in Karnataka over newspaper advertisements by the health department but this time it is not about Kannada.
The ruling Congress and opposition BJP in Karnataka are locked in a war of words over a health advertisement in an Urdu newspaper.
After the BJP alleged that the state government was engaging in “appeasement politics”, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday came down heavily on the saffron party, calling out their “hypocrisy” while saying this is “standard government procedure”.
The controversy took a personal turn as the BJP’s comments on the language spoken at state health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao’s home were widely seen as a reference to his wife, Tabu Rao. She condemned the attack as the “height of self-deception”, saying her family does not even speak Urdu at home.
Tabu Rao said she has been unfairly targeted due to her personal background since her husband entered politics. “Aren’t there advertisements featuring Yediyurappa and Prime Minister Modi in Urdu? Are they indulging in appeasement?” she asked, labelling the BJP’s sudden “love for Kannada” as an embarrassing double standard.
WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY?
The controversy was triggered by the launch of the ‘Kusuma Sanjeevini’ programme, a government initiative providing prophylactic treatment for haemophilia patients alongside free ambulance services.
To promote the event, the state health department issued advertisements across different publications. The versions appearing in Urdu dailies were printed entirely in the Urdu language, which the BJP immediately seized upon as a “bone of contention”.
WHAT DID SIDDARAMAIAH SAY?
Siddaramaiah, while speaking to reporters in Mangaluru, questioned the logic of the opposition’s protest.
“When giving advertisements, shouldn’t we give them to Urdu newspapers as well?” he asked, adding that the BJP has made it a “habit to protest” everything the current government does while ignoring their own past actions.
Having previously served as the president of the Kannada Kavalu Samiti, he dismissed the idea that he needed lessons in linguistic pride saying for him “Kannada is not just a language, it is life”.
WHAT DID THE BJP SAY?
In a pointed attack shared on social media, the Karnataka BJP accused the “anti-Kannada, anti-state Congress government” of sacrificing the interests of the local language for the sake of political gain. It questioned if the administrative language of the state had changed, asking Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar: “Is the administrative language of Karnataka Kannada or Urdu?”
The BJP alleged that the government had issued an official invitation in Urdu, rather than a mere advertisement and directed a personal jibe at Dinesh Gundu Rao, saying he was using his office to promote a language spoken in his own home.
WHAT DID THE HEALTH MINISTER SAY?
Rao, meanwhile, responded with a sharp rebuttal, accusing the BJP of “intellectual bankruptcy” and failing to distinguish between an official government invitation and a standard newspaper advertisement.
He said the move was a “routine administrative practice”, explaining that it is standard procedure to publish advertisements in the language of the specific newspaper to ensure the information reaches its intended readers. He said the goal of government advertising is to effectively convey information about public schemes to all citizens.
He further shared a series of past advertisements published in Urdu by previous BJP administrations and specifically named BJP CMs like BS Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai, asking if their use of Urdu advertisements during their tenure meant they were also “anti-national” or engaging in “appeasement”.
(With inputs from Rohini Swamy)
February 26, 2026, 20:56 IST
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