Bengaluru: Karnataka’s Congress government Friday approved Tulu as the state’s second additional administrative language, fulfilling a decades-long demand from the Tulu-speaking community for official recognition of the ancient language spoken predominantly in the state’s coastal districts.
“Tulu is not just a language, but the lifeline of the rich culture, traditions, and identity of the Karavali region. In honor of the historical significance of the Tulu language, the Karnataka government has declared Tulu as the state’s 2nd additional administrative language,” Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said Friday in a post.
This decision applies to Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. “Through this, the long-standing dream of the Karavali people has been fulfilled,” he said.
The government will allocate Rs 82 lakh annually for translation, training and language use.
ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ಐತಿಹಾಸಿಕ ಗೌರವ – ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ 2ನೇ ಹೆಚ್ಚುವರಿ ಆಡಳಿತ ಭಾಷೆಯಾಗಿ ಘೋಷಣೆ
ತುಳು ಕೇವಲ ಒಂದು ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲ, ಕರಾವಳಿಯ ಶ್ರೀಮಂತ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ, ಪರಂಪರೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಅಸ್ಮಿತೆಯ ಜೀವನಾಡಿ. ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಯ ಐತಿಹಾಸಿಕ ಮಹತ್ವವನ್ನು ಗೌರವಿಸಿ, ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ರಾಜ್ಯದ 2ನೇ ಹೆಚ್ಚುವರಿ ಆಡಳಿತ ಭಾಷೆಯಾಗಿ ತುಳುವನ್ನು ಘೋಷಿಸಿದೆ. ಉಡುಪಿ ಮತ್ತು… pic.twitter.com/q5slyXAZOZ
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) September 18, 2026
Tulu is among the ‘Pancha-Dravida’ (Proto Dravidian) languages, counted in the pantheon of Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. The speakers of the other four had their states based on their tongue and regions. Tulu-speaking people were merged with Karnataka in 1956. Prior to this, these parts were under the Madras Presidency.
“Our demand and struggle of many decades have now been fulfilled. Tulu is one of the five ‘Pancha Dravida’ languages… all four (now-five) states (Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) have them as their official languages. With this decision, it also gives Tulu-speakers strength and it will enter the eighth schedule (of the Constitution),” Mohan Alva, the chairman of the Alva chain of medical and educational institutions, told ThePrint.
Alva is among the leading voices who compiled and submitted a report on the state of Tuluva culture to the BJP government in 2023 in the hope that they finally get their due.
Also read: For Tulu community in India, ‘Bhuta’ masks are charged with magic, meaning and myth
The politics: ‘development candies’
During the cabinet meeting Friday, Shivakumar approved several other coastal Karnataka-focused decisions and programmes, including financial grants, a tourism policy and changing the name of ‘Dakshina Kannada’ district to Mangaluru, emphasising regional identity over what the locals believe was diluted under the larger identity of Karnataka and Kannada.
By approving these decades-old demands, the ruling Congress party appears to be extending its outreach to newer geographies and communities that were largely believed to have alienated the party, say political analysts.
For instance, despite Mangaluru being one of the most important urban centres in Karnataka, this was the first ever cabinet meeting to be held in the coastal city, emphasising the importance the Congress-led government is giving to the region ahead of the upcoming crucial local elections, and assembly polls in 2028.
On Friday morning, Shivakumar had breakfast with social media influencers from coastal Karnataka in Mangaluru’s Gandhi Square Cafe, spending time interacting with young content creators. “We will do politics on people’s lives, not on people’s feelings. Our government will work according to everyone’s thoughts,” he told them.
The outreach before the crucial decisions was to extend an olive branch to disillusioned youngsters who have increasingly, and actively, backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP in previous elections.
In 2013, the BJP won just three out of the 19 seats in these districts. In 2018, the BJP number went up to 16.
And in 2023, despite the Congress winning a landslide 135 seats, it managed just three seats out of the 19 in the region, indicating how the region had transformed into a BJP stronghold over the decades.
In 2024, the BJP won all three Lok Sabha seats from the region.
“The people of this land place a strong priority on nationalism and will not be swayed by Congress’s political gimmicks. Mangaluru has always stood as a strong bastion of Hindutva,” Bharat Shetty, the two-time BJP MLA from Mangaluru North said Thursday.
The people of this land place a strong priority on nationalism and will not be swayed by Congress’s political gimmicks.
Mangaluru has always stood as a strong bastion of Hindutva.#dakshinakannada #mangalore #drybharathshetty #antihinducongress pic.twitter.com/GTkQY2IbKc
— Dr. Bharath Shetty Y. (@bharathshetty_y) September 17, 2026
However, his comments have attracted sharp scrutiny from a significant chunk of the local population who are torn between religion-based politics and the lack of development, jobs and regional focus.
A.Narayana, a Bengaluru-based political analyst and a Tulu speaker, said that the Congress government has sent out the right message with Friday’s decisions. But the region needs to be reassured of a continued commitment and not “development candies” alone, he said.
“The Congress and the government, in order to take on communal forces, have to present themselves as serious in doing good for the region. But if the government thinks that these decisions itself is enough to tackle communalisation of politics and the people, it may not suffice. It has to follow these up with clear ideological projects, stating or projecting its clear stand to the people,” Narayana said.
The analyst added that the Congress must present a clear ideological stand without fearing either the progressive thinkers, minorities and even hard-core Hindu support base.
“It should project itself not fearing to be called soft-Hindutva but stating that it represents a good form of Hinduism as against the version promoted by the RSS and its affiliates. This shouldn’t be done with the fear of losing votes,” he said.
Ashok Kumar Rai successfully contested as a Congress candidate in 2023 from Puttur despite him being a hardcore BJP supporter for decades, indicating how winnability had forced parties to compromise on ideology, Narayana said.
‘Structural changes required’
Tulu or Tulunadu, as the region was earlier referred to, is among the most prosperous regions in the state.
Its politics, however, has been as volatile as the rest of the state, often oscillating between the Congress and the BJP in state elections and increasingly in favour of the latter in the Modi-era.
Phani Rajanna, a former Manipal University faculty member and commentator on communal politics, said that these decisions do not necessarily alter the structural patterns in the region.
He said that even though the population has its problems with BJP legislators who they accuse of taking them for granted, voters consolidate behind Modi in central elections, leaving the Congress behind.
“These decisions may provide some cushion for the Congress at the moment. But this in itself is not a trump card to win over voters. How the Congress uses this as a political strategy will define the outcome,” he said.
He added that local Congress leaders must be trained and empowered to be seen as implementing these projects not to defeat the BJP but Hindutva an ideology. He said local economics, irrespective of which government announces them, largely has benefitted the BJP’s larger support ecosystem.
However, activists also said that some of these decisions are likely to help people look beyond the BJP.
“This (official language status to Tulu) will definitely change the political narrative of Tulunad districts which has been the bastion for BJP in many decades with their Hindutva ideology. This opens the new ideology for regional respect, language recognition and growth are very important,” Vijesh Shetty, one of the more active Tulu activists online, told ThePrint.
Udupi and Dakshina Kannada have some of the highest literacy rates, they rank high on the Human Development Index (HDI), offer high-quality education and hospitals, possess a rich heritage, and have a flourishing entrepreneurial population.
No other district has the distinction of having started four nationalised banks–Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank—like Dakshina Kannada.
Its long coastline has also made it a very important port, supporting fishing, petroleum refineries, education and medical institutions and other industries that have helped Karnataka’s growth trajectory.
However, these districts have become synonymous with polarised and communal politics, robbing them of their potential.
Tit-for-Tat killings and communally charged speeches made it one of the most fertile grounds for polarised politics in the state otherwise driven by caste-based politics.
The constant narrative of communal politics has also overshadowed the region’s remarkable transformation in Information Technology, startups and innovative industries that have made the place their home, giving qualified graduates from its institutions an option rather than moving out to bigger cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and others.
“If out of the three or five projects announced, the Congress completes three and asks to be voted back to power to see the remaining through, then these decisions will have a longer-term impact. However, the weakness of the Congress is not developmental projects, but ideological,” Narayana says.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also read: India’s Silicon Beach: As Bengaluru sputters, a new IT haven is taking shape on Karnataka’s coast