The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), a Kannada organisation, has strongly objected to the South Western Railway’s decision to conduct a promotion examination without providing Kannada as a language option and has warned of State-wide protests if the issue is not addressed.

On March 17 earlier this year, the Railways postponed its departmental recruitment examinations after members of KRV raised similar objections against the tests being conducted exclusively in English and Hindi.

In a press statement issued on Monday, KRV president T.A. Narayana Gowda alleged that the railway authorities were denying Kannada-speaking employees the opportunity to write the examination in their mother tongue. He termed the move a violation of the linguistic rights of Kannadigas and demanded immediate intervention by the Railway Board and the South Western Railway administration.

According to Mr. Gowda, the examination question papers are being prepared only in English and Hindi. He argued that hundreds of Kannada-speaking railway employees eligible for promotion would be disadvantaged as they would not be able to take the examination in Kannada.

Mr. Gowda said that Kannada is the official language of Karnataka and alleged that while regional languages are accommodated in other States, Kannada continues to be ignored in railway recruitment and promotion examinations conducted in Karnataka. He described the move as discriminatory and called for all railway recruitment and promotion tests in the State to be conducted in Kannada as well.

The organisation has urged the authorities to either cancel the June 25 examination or postpone it until Kannada is included as an examination language.