Speech by the India-born Canadian member of Parliament Chandra Arya in his native Kannada language has gone viral on social media with netizens lauding him.
Chandra Arya, the MP from Nepean in Ontario uploading a one-minute video of his speech in a post on Twitter, said, “I spoke in my mother tongue (first language) Kannada in Canadian parliament. This beautiful language has long history and is spoken by about 50 million people. This is the first time Kannada is spoken in any parliament in the world outside of India.”
Speaking in the Canadian Parliament, he expressed his pleasure to be able to speak in Kannada, calling it a proud moment for the “five crore Kannadigas living in Canada.”
He concluded with a speech from a song written by Kuvempu, one of the greatest Kannada poets of the 20th century, which said, “Yelladharu iru, Yenthadaaru iru, yendendigu nee Kannadavagiru (Wherever you are, however you stay, be a Kannadiga always).”
Chandra hails from Shira taluka of Tumakuru district, about 70 km from the capital city of Karnataka capital Bengaluru.
