Lok Sabha Elections 2024: This Woman Candidate From Kerala Is Fluent In Six Languages

India is the land of great linguistic diversity. Apart from the 22 scheduled languages, hundreds of others have also been used for centuries. Thanks to this a large section of Indians are bilingual or multilingual.

This is particularly true in areas that are close to the borders of states that speak two different languages.

Kasaragod - land of seven languages

But most residents in the Kasaragod district of Kerala can speak three or four languages with ease.

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Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu and Urdu are widely spoken in Kasaragod which is known as the ¡®Land of seven languages'.

Apart from this one can also find people speaking Marathi, Konkani and Byari in Kasaragod which shares border with Karnataka.

Linguistic diversity in Kasaragod

According to the 2011 census, 82.07 per cent people here speak Malayalam, 4.02 per cent speak Kannada, 8.08 per cent Tulu and 1.8 per cent Marathi. Around 30,000 and 25,000 people speak Urdu and Konkani respectively.

So it should not come as a surprise that Ashwini ML, the BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha constituency is a polyglot.

Ashwini ML

Candidate fluent in six languages

The 38-year-old teacher can effortlessly switches between Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu, while interacting with people in Kasaragod.

Ashwini said she is also familiar with Tamil, Hindi and English.

"It gives me additional confidence during the campaigning," she told PTI.

How she mastered six languages

Born and brought up in Karnataka and growing up among Tamil and Hindi-speaking neighbours, Ashwini has been exposed to multiple languages since her childhood. She said that though she is a Malayali, her parents had settled down in Bengaluru decades ago and she came to Kasaragod a few years ago after marriage.

"As I was born, brought up and studied in Bengaluru, Kannada has been part of my life since childhood. As we had neighbours from Tamil Nadu and friends from north Indian states, there was no difficulty in learning Tamil and Hindi," she said.

Ashwini ML

She learnt Tulu from relatives who have lived in Karnataka for a long time. "When we talk to the voters in their own language, they will definitely have a fondness for us," she said.

How being multilingual can help

She said multilingual skills are also a good way to connect with senior citizens and women voters. "In certain areas, people don't understand Malayalam. There I switched to Kannada. It makes them happy. Many even appreciated me for this," she said.

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