Can a billion people be shepherded toward a single language? And should India’s government try? Shreyasi Singh investigates.
You’d think the citizens of a country with a population of 1.17 billion people, who between them speak more than 1,600 languages and dialects, would understood that language is about communication, not identity. Yet, time and again in India, fissures over regional identities reveal in sometimes ugly ways how far the country is from achieving this ideal.
In November last year, newly-elected Maharashtra state legislator Abu Azmi was assaulted by members of the right-wing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for insisting on taking his oath in Hindi. MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the now-estranged nephew of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, had earlier written to all 288 state legislators of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, urging them to take their oath in Marathi. Azmi was slapped, pushed and punched by MNS politicians when he rose to take his oath in Hindi—hooliganism in the country’s high offices that was broadcast live on TV for the nation to see.
The incident followed the controversy a few weeks earlier that erupted after a request by the first-time Member of Parliament from southern Tamil Nadu state, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers M. K. Azhagiri, to speak in his mother tongue in the Lok Sabha (the Indian Parliament’s elected house) was turned down. Tamil speakers were outraged, arguing the speech could easily have been translated into Hindi and English for the rest of the House. They also claimed the decision violated their rights and was an insult to Tamil, which they see as much a national language as Hindi.
The Tamil-Hindi tussle has a long history. Over the decades, many non-Hindi speaking states have opposed the imposition of Hindi nationwide. However, southern Tamil Nadu’s resistance has always been the most sustained and most vociferous, while anti-Hindi campaigns in Tamil Nadu saw mass mobilisation both before and after India’s independence was secured in 1947.
Although seemingly omnipresent, in part due to its cultural reach through Bollywood (the Hindi film industry), Hindi is not actually a national language. According to the 2001 census, Hindi and its various dialects are spoken by about 422 million people or just over 41 percent of the national population.
India has no legally-defined national language, and although Article 343 of the Constitution declares Hindi and English to be the official languages of the union of India, to be used for administrative, judicial and legislative business in Parliament and other central bodies, there are 18 official languages that states can use to conduct their intra-state affairs.
The situation is complicated further by the special provisions made for the development of Hindi under Article 351 of the Constitution, which states: ‘It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule.’
Some experts on India’s Constitution believe the nation’s founding fathers did, in fact, intend that Hindi would become the lingua franca of the country—the ‘link’ speech—but that language-based regional identities didn’t allow this to happen.
Photo Credit: Lakshman Anand
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soumyasrajan
Some how our journalists and star bloggers are sometimes quite misguided. Worst part is often with their biased views they create unnecessary sensations. The agitation in Mumbai against Abu Azmi and Sahrukh khan have very little to do with Hindi or welfare of Marathi etc.
It has much more to do with vote bank type politics. First agitation was mainly by MNS whose feudal chief is Raj Thakre. The way party has created violence in streets of Mumbai, even in assembly and got away with it does indicate beyond doubt that party has sometimes unwritten support from the ruling parties Congress and NCP.
It is also clear that in this vote bank gamble these ruling parties are using MNS as tool to divide the vote bank of the parent party Shiv Sena (and its alliance partner BJP). They practically succeeded also in the same.
Shiv Sena with feudal head Bal Thakre has run into a lot of other problems too. The charm of Bal Thakre has reduced as he has become very old. His heir his son does not command that type respect or charm as he did. Most of this charm (ofcourse with the help of ruling parties earlier Congress or BJP) was created in similar way by creating violence against one or the other community. Shiv Sena answered MNS created violence by creating another spell of violence using Shah rukh Khan’s simple statement as an issue.
This is not new. Currently both these parties are using Violence against Hindi speaking people as a tool. In the past, with similar looking other way attitudes of ruling parties, Shiv sena has created similar hatred campaigns against Gujratis and earlier against south Indians.
It has obviously nothing to do with Hindi or not Hindi or welfare of Marathi.
Violence is essentially used to generate money and vote bank or to split vote bank.
But Our writers ignore all this and start singing the hatred agenda of such parties or their direct or indirect supporters like Congress or NCP. As the comments below the article show it only attracts people with extreme views.
I wrote a series of articles on this issue when this agitation was going on. Url for two of them are
http://hubpages.com/hub/nva04feb2009-1
http://hubpages.com/hub/Theaters-open-Mumbai-has-chosen-a-different-path
As some comment here points out, let there be 1000’s of languages in India they are not against each other. Even English is now as much Indian language as Hindi or Marathi or Tamil are. The main issue is some thing different.
Hope Diplomat provides better analysis of such topics.
R.NARAYANAN
The faculty of communication is unique to the humans, as its immense spread,depth and nuance is denied to other living denizens of the world. As man developed written texts he further consolidated his pre-eminence among all other species. Now with the aid of electronic marvels he can store immense amounts of written knowledge and can compact this material into more and more minute storages.What goes into these myriad linguistic blocks are also the cultural anthropology that is inseparably entwined with the language in which man thinks,expresses and keeps records.It is natural that the history and culture of the times in which he records or propounds his experiences or ideas,is seamlessly merged into his creations as does an indelible hue or a shade to a work of art.One is complimentary to the other. Therefore similar human emotions or experience in far removed and differently evolved linguistic entities will produce singularly different canvasses conditioned by endemic thought processes that seep and soak in layers of the lore ingrained inside,before finding a vehicle of that specific language to be conveyed to the audience.No wonder identical set of conflicts or problems in varied regions,elicit different approaches and solutions.
Linguistic Anthropology makes for a fascinating study . With around 6000 languages known to humans, many alas,are scripted for a tragic extinction, during the course of the current century. Politically dominant ones like English,French ,Spanish ,Chinese,Arabic etc. being prone to greater usage at a given era , would subordinate others not by force but by choice or convenience or simply dictated by the needs at that given time.What is paramount is as a particular language passes into sunset,in takes away that vital hue or nuance that it alone was capable of providing,leaving the human canvas that much poorer, forever.
While English had wiped away Celtic languages, the Welsh have been more successful in retaining their ‘identity ‘ and the Scots and Irish have not. A siege of sorts by English could be laid on our tongues, in these present times.Most Indian languages in comparison, are far too older and date many a millennia .This land of Vedas has contributed richly to universal lore.We have had our share of civilisational onslaughts with many alien tongues entering ,sometimes obtrusively,into our culture. We were able to tackle them thus far, by assimilation or assertion, to the benefit of our cultural enrichment. But these were confrontations at literary levels restricted to the erudite.Today everyone is literate and knowledgeable , with instant access to infinite written texts. But given as we are less to the pursuit of the higher literary regions and more to the mundane pursuit of daily living keyed to economy and growth,our eyes are off
this intrusion of alien tongues.Thus our linguistic leanings are getting perforce tilted to embracing English .There was a hubbub when WB government took up seriously teaching English at the upper primary school level, the needs of a ballooning IT industry having precipitated this decision
Why single out W ‘Bengal or Karnataka for a perceptible antipathy to tongues other than its own. States south of the Vindhyas, zealously linguistic in equal measure,first resisted Sanskrit for its Aryan roots and later as the language of the Brahmins.The anti-Hindi agitations are of recent memory.However soon enough,the compulsions of modern day technological advances had many states embrace English , though despised as the language of the suppressors,earlier than what WB is doing now.One way or the other ,children across the nation,will learn English to manage their technical interface out of necessity,but the real issue is to nurture Indian languages,many of them dating back in millenniums, studded with untold treasures of lore and literature.As long as we think in mother tongues and transact in English our ingrained Indian ethos will come through. Thought must over-ride form.
The decline of Indian languages would be imminent, should we start thinking in English rather than limiting it to a vehicle of convenience.This would require us to nurture our tongues against a language alien to our ethos, in this instance say English, not so much zealously, as in doing it wisely. It is not that we be allergic to English but be more caring to our own tongues.Our languages are the bridges to treasures of the past,the older the language,richer the treasure and that should be reason alone to safeguard each one of them.This is the challenge and an obligation that every generation of ours needs to face as also ensure, that it is passed on to the next generation as forcefully.
Yash
Madam, India can have one prime minister, president but not a single national language. I am a Marathi & I have knowledge of Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil. If we are talking about common language, then Tamil is Mother of Dravidian Languages & 50% Karnataka, 80%Kerala,40% AP understands Tamil much better than Hindi. Similarly Bengali, Oriya & Assamese understand Bengali better than Hindi. North-east understands English better. In such a condition, why should we force only Hindi on all states?
Also, I was watching Hindi News-Channels on the day when Abu Azmi was assaulted. They were misguiding the whole day that ‘Hindi comes Before Marathi in Maharashtra.’ This is wrong. Marathi shall always have highest importance inside Maharashtra. Also “When Muslims in UP, Delhi, Bihar take Urdu as their first language, why should Maharashtra take Hindi as 1st & Marathi 2nd?” You can check this, if you are in Aligarh. Fortunately Marathi & Hindi have same scripts. If you have seen Punjab & Kashmir, you must have seen that all boards are in Gurumukhi & Kashmiri. If you want only Hindi, then first Punjab, Kashmir& Gujrat should remove their individual scripts and should display everything in Hindi with Devnagari script.
Finally why are students of UP/Bihar not learning other Indian languages? After all their students are going to Pune, Bangalore for careers. Conclusion,’ Within boundaries of a state, Local language must be respected & noone should have problem with its use.’ I have seen Gujarati, Marwari, Sindhi schools in Mumbai,their 3 language formula should strictly contain Marathi. They can choose other 2 from Hindi/English/Marwari. This rule applies to all states. In A.P. Telugu will have highest importance & in Tamilnadu to Tamil.
bharatrakshak
“Let the 1600 Languages live happily and lets celebrate the diversity existing among Indians.”
Yes Suresh, let’s make Indians learn 1600 different languages so that they can govern themselves… Your argument is specious. The retention of Hindi as the language of administration and common culture does not automatically spell out the demise of regional languages and identities. If 4th generation Chinese in English-speaking America can continue to speak Mandarin, why can’t Malayalis continue to speak in Malayalam, and Bengalis speak in Bengali, while Hindi remains the national language?
Simple pragmatism and government necessitate that a single language be utilized for government. Why should Indians be forced to speak the language of colonialism in the noble and nationalist task of governing themselves?
The three language formula offers the most accommodating and practical of options. Hindi as the national link language and language of national govt, English for international business and diplomacy, and the regional language of the state. So a Punjabi school child in madras should learn Tamil along with the two other languages. A Kannada student should learn Bengali along with the other two while in Kolkata.
Lastly, your ideological rant against Hindu nationalists only belies the supposed sincerity of your words. I say all of this as a South Indian.
Guest469
A single language will help keep India united and diminish separatist movements.
indian
I don’t know how people think the whole of India should speak Hindi and they expect that we should forget our own Mother Tongue. Their argument is national unity. Do they know the history of India, do they know the diversity of India, do they know the true nature of the India?
People often forget that India is full different people with different languages, religion, culture, history. They don’t have anything common except their nationality.
Bangladesh was formed because the Urdu was imposed on them. Today North Indians want Hindi to be imposed on all. Because of the huge population and having lots of parliament seats in the states like UP and Bihar, most of the Hindi Parties have unfair advantage in Parliament.
These Hindi parties try to appease their huge Hindi speaking population and they want to impose their language on others. I am not talking against national unity and Hindi, but saying that the way of unifying India is not by Hindi but by equal economic development.
Suresh
Sorry I wanted to say more about the below sentence which was left unexplained.
“People who want to use Hindi to integrate will allow Hindu nationalists to use their Hindutva trump card.”
If Hindi protagonists want to integrate India on the basis of one language , then Hindu fundamentalists, Hindu Nationalists will say that they want to integrate India on the basis of Religion.
India can’t follow one language or one religion rules. We can’t allow any language or religion get unfair advantage politically or culturally.
Suresh
People often forget that homogenization of a diverse country like India will create fractures.
India is created only in 1947, before that Indian sub continent was full of kingdoms which were based on the languages. Every Kingdom was having its own language, the most important point is that their culture, traditions, arts, politics were revolving around their language.
Now when Hindi people want to enforce Hindi language on non-Hindi people its just nothing but a threat to their culture which is oriented on their language. No one in this world would let anyone give a threat to his culture.Also, Bangladesh was formed because Pakistanis wanted to impose Urdu on Bengalis and I think imposing Hindi on non-Hindi people would definitely create lots of huge fractures.
People who want to enforce Hindi are not evil and their intention is to help integrating people of different culture and languages. But integrating India by imposing a Hindi language is totally wrong. Only equality, preserving every culture, giving importance to all the sections of people, giving equal opportunities in Politics, education and jobs are the ways to integrate diverse India.
Trying to integrate India by imposing Hindi and trying to destroy other languages will cause more tensions and fractures.If Hindi is made National Language of India, then automatically all the Non-Hindi States will lose their jobs to people from Hindi States.Hindi language will then be enforced in every field in a Non Hindi state, people in Non Hindi state will struggle.Hindi language when enforced will kill other classical languages like Tamil,Telugu,Kannada and Malayalam.
Hindi language will give Hindi speakers an unfair advantage in the job markets, politics and arts. Already Hindi movies are occupying the Non Hindi movie markets. Most of the India’s Prime Ministers come from Hindi states. There is hardly any strong representation from Non Hindi political parties in the Lok Sabha.
Hindi speakers may begin to impose their culture, traditions, their political agendas on the non-Hindi speakers.
We need to anticipate what are the effects of imposing Hindi, definitely there will be cultural wars erupting against Hindi. People who don’t want Hindi will be left out in the Hindi society if Hindi is made National Language. If the idea is to integrate diverse India imposing Hindi is a very bad idea. we need to look at Bangladesh as a valid test case.
To integrate India, equality in politics for all language people, non restricting education based on languages, avoiding unfair advantage to any language are some of the ways to integrate diverse India. People who want to use Hindi to integrate will allow Hindu nationalists to use their Hindutva trump card. Lets not force our diverse India by imposing Hindi on it. Only equal opportunities in politics, education, jobs will help integrate India. We certainly can’t integrate India on the basis of language or religion.
Let the 1600 Languages live happily and lets celebrate the diversity existing among Indians.
Yash
You are correct sir. If a Maharashtrian is going to Kanpur, Noida, it’s okay if Hindi is made compulsory there. If an outsider is coming to Maharashtra & telling the locals to stop using Marathi & imposing Hindi, it is certainly against Democracy.
If you call any Airtel customer in Karnataka or AP & if his mobile is switched off, you will listen IVR in Kannada or Telugu only. When I had called my friend in Belgaum, I had to hear IVR in Kannada. Then, what is wrong if Marathi is used for IVRs in Maharashtra? It has now been clear that Hindi is not National Language. Hence all operators are bound to give IVRs in local language.