Brother and sister artists, writers and publicists,

We write this to you following information that we are victims of a tirade engineered against us for the past four months by certain Tamil newspapers apparently as a "reply" to the healthy campaign we have sponsored for succoring Kannada artists.

It is a pity that our detractors have given an anti-Tamil color to this movement of ours. It is a greater pity that some of them have preferred to dub this as an auxiliary to the separatist movement launched by the D. M. K. in Madras State. We should like to declare categorically that we are averse to any kind of separatism and are always prepared to fight this tendency tooth and nail. We have never seen eye to eye with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and we don't propose to gang up with them.

All our movement stands for is to make the life of the average Kannadiga endurable and to create a respectable place for him in his own land. Surely, there is nothing reprehensible in this? We have programmed to prevail upon the State Government as the language of the courts and also as the medium of instruction in educational institutions and to rename the State as Karnataka.

You will surely agree that this is well within the bounds of rationalism and also that there is no vestige of hatred for any other linguistic group or State discernible anywhere in this programme.

It may well be asked why we have singled out an old institution like the Ramaseva Mandali in Bangalore for our attack on the cultural front. This needs some explanation. Just to give you a background, it was the late Sri Bidaram Krishnappa, doyen of Karnataka Music of the State, who first initiated the habit of inviting musicians from Tamilnad to the State and created a platform for them in his glorious institution, Sri Prasanna Sitarama Mandira, Mysore. It was also Sri Krishnappa who took the vidwans from Tamilnad to the Mysore Palace, then a haven for all cultural giants, and got them palace honours. No less a man than His Highness Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar, of revered memory, presided over these "vidwathsabhas" and suitably honored the visiting virtuosi. We are sure that this service done by the late Sri Krishnappa to his brother artistes is too precious to be so easily forgotten.

Another doyen, the late Sri Tiger Varadachariar, spent a good number of years of his fruitful life in Mysore and readily reciprocated Sri Krishnappa's fine gesture and introduced a large number of Mysore musicians to Tamilnad. These, indeed, were days one would fondly cherish in one' memory.

But, to the dismay of everybody interested in healthy inter-State cultural relations, after the demise of the late Sri Krishnappa, the Gayana Samaj of Bangalore preferred a step-motherly attitude towards local artists flouting the noble traditions set up by the two doyens. The local artist became a pariah in the Samaja and the subsequent office-bearers of the institution faithfully took up the strings of this unfortunate hate-campaign.

While this happened in Bangalore, it found its echo in the Prasanna Sitarama Mandira at Mysore also.

These two institutions then found a blind follower in the Ramaseva Mandali of Chamarajpet, Bengalore, a tiny group of people who started conducting music performances during the Ramanavami season in a small way. This institution took upon itself to throw every Kannada artist overboard. Quite naturally, this suicidal policy adopted by this commercial-minded organisation run in the name of art provoked the wrath of the local press and music-lovers alike and strong resentment of this attitude poured into the press in a stream. When, in his presidential address at the 42nd Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Udupi in December 1960, Sri A. N. Krishna Rao, a famed Kannada writer and a member of our advisory board, made a pointed reference to this organised affront to Kannada art, the press widely hailed him. This show of righteous indignation came to a logical culmination when, at a conference of Bangalore Kannadigas, one of the most successful conferences convened in the city in recent years, a strongly-worded resolution was passed crying halt to the policy persued by the Mandali, which, incidentally, has now grown into a big money-making cultural organisation.

We requested the Mandali and similar institutions not to do away with the services of outside artists ---- and we want this to be very clearly understood ----- but only to invite both local and outside artists on a fifty-fifty basis.

We should thankfully acknowledge here that the Rama Seva Samithi in another area of the city, Sheshadripuram, which happens to be much more well organised and more sincere institution than the Mandali, has readily responded to our request and is treating both Mysore and outside artistes alike.

But not so our friends from the Mandali. They believe in their dogged obstinacy and have refused to budge from their most unreasonable stand. This being the case, we had no other alternative but to stage a peaceful demonstration against them and this we did on April 27. We should like you to get this clear, that we never resorted to any violence but only led a procession through the main streets of the city with black flags and banners. A public meeting was also held without any untoward incident. There was no reason whatever for our Mandali friends to get panicky, but they did, and imported into the pandal precincts a whole posse of policemen, fully armed and led by senior officers. We were called hooligans and communists, but we never deserved this blame. In fact, nothing whatever happened from our end and Smt. Subbulakshmi did not have to stop singing even for a single second. Meanwhile, we had successfully lodged our peaceful protest.

This is not a piece of self-aggrandisement, but we can assure you that our organisation is not an offshoot of some disgruntled Kannadigas, as some of those who don't see eye to eye with us have made out. Ours is an organised, concerted movement voicing the concern, indignation and charging of Kannadigas in their hour of agony, Our organisation, far from being monopolised by communists and hooligans, is composed of some of the most outstanding men of letters, musicians, journalists, students, factory workers, corporators and members of the State Legislature. There are also office-bearers of over 50 organisations fighting of the legitimate rights and aspirations of the 20 million Kannadigas.

We hold no apology for the cause we have espoused. But we would like to make one point clear. While we are not at all apposed to Tamil artists performing on our soil --- in fact, they are most welcome --- we are not prepared to tolerate the superior airs they choose to sport. This is most insulting and not even the traditionally tolerant Kannadiga can put up with this. The Tamil artists should bear in mind that it is their duty to share the destiny of their brother artists in Karnataka. They have no right to trample on the sentiments of the Kannada people by associating themselves with blatantly mercenary organisations. 

We tell the Tamil artists: Don't have anything to do with such institutions: reciprocate the goodwill of Kannadigas by inviting Kannada artists in large numbers to your State and, when you sing in our State, see that 50 percent of your repertoire consists of Kannada songs.

We are sure that this lengthy explanation convinces you about the real facts of the case. All we are agitating for is the creation of a "live and let-live" policy. After having said all this, would it be too presumptuous on our part to enlist your co-operation in our fight against oppression and low commercialism?