Time to let sleeping dogma lie: On ‘Hindi imposition’

Recently Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement, Saying that Hindi should replace English as “Link Language” And that the government’s work will increasingly be in Hindi, has established the proverbial cat among southern pigeons. The “Hindi-Hindutva-Hindustan” ideology he represents has historically been impatient with the notion of Indian multilingualism, which he sees as a weakening of national unity rather than a proud display of diversity that our constitutional Nationalism celebrates. It has been a long-standing policy of the Hindutva movement that Hindi, the language of the northern and central Indian states, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken its deep roots, should be the ‘national language’ of India. BJP MPs have often stood up in the national parliament to demand that they make laws of their choice.

Part of ‘Hindi propaganda’

Mr Shah’s defense is only the latest of several attempts by the Modi government to promote Hindi. These include: imposition of Hindi names on central government programs and schemes (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and so on) rather than translation or ‘neutral’ English labels; Proposal for a ‘Parliamentary Committee’ to make the use of Hindi compulsory for MPs and Union Ministers; making Hindi a compulsory subject for the Central Board of Secondary Education schools across the country; ‘rewriting of milestones on national highways in Hindi instead of English’; Use of Hindi in airport announcements; The central government is issuing media advertisements in Hindi, and launching ‘publicity campaigns exclusively in Hindi script’, even if the words used are from different Indian languages; and the practice of changing the name of famous occasions or festivals only in Hindi or Sanskrit, such as Guru Purnima on Teacher’s Day.

The latest controversy has exposed two important truths about our country. First, whatever Hindi fundamentalists may say, we do not have one “national language” in India, but many. The second is that enthusiasts have the unfortunate tendency to instigate a battle they will lose – at a time when they were quietly winning the war.

missing the point

Hindi is the mother tongue of about 50% of our population; The percentage is rising because of the spectacular failure of population control in most parts of North India. However, it is not the mother tongue of the rest of us. When Hindi speakers emotionally condemn the use of a foreign language imposed on the country by British colonialists and demand that Hindi be used because it speaks to the “spirit of India”, or when they declare that “Hindi is our mother, English is a stranger”, they are missing the point twice. First, because no Tamil or Bengali will accept that Hindi is the language of his soul, and second because anti-English xenophobia Adding to the argument is completely irrelevant to the issue.

As Rajaji warned Hindi fanatics of his era, opposition to English is the opposite: ‘Xenophobia is an old form of patriotism. Feeling ashamed to use world language in our higher affairs is a sign of immaturity. Repeated attempts are made to cover up the inevitable injustice of imposing Hindi in opposition to the foreign character of English. …is not just and fair treatment by all the geographically distributed people of this great country at least as important as national pride?’ Dr. BR Ambedkar had also expressed the view that it is necessary to continue English as a practical feature for the usefulness of one language nationwide in administration and justice system.

Rajaji also summed up the argument that Hindi was the language of the Indian people, while English was used only by the marginalized elite: ‘When Hindi heroes are talking about the masses, they are clearly only the people of the Hindi region. are thinking about; They ignore the non-Hindi masses in India who are not few in number.’ He feared that nationalism was being used to disguise the naked selfishness of the Hindi-speakers of the north: ‘Love of self disguised as easily as love of language, and love of language as love of country’ can go. Let us not deceive ourselves or others with chaotic slogans.

But seducing yourself is a favorite pastime in New Delhi. The issue is quite simple: all Indians need to deal with is the government. We need government services, information and support; We need to understand easily what our government is telling us or demanding from us. When the government does this in our mother tongue, it becomes easy for us. But when it does so in someone else’s mother tongue that we are less familiar with our neighbor, our understanding is sharpened by resentment. Why should the Indian government talk to Shukla in the language they find easiest, but not to Subramaniam?

Actually There is a practical solution to this question: use Hindi where it makes sense, but use English everywhere, as it puts all Indians from all parts of our country at an equal disadvantage. English does not express Subramaniam’s soul more than Shukla, but it serves a functional purpose for both, and more than that, it helps Subramaniam to be understood in the same way as Shukla.

Ideally, of course, every document, tax form or tweet from the central government should be in every single language of India. Since this is not possible in practice – because we have to do everything in 23 versions (22 more in English) – we have chosen two official languages, English and Hindi. State governments supplement these by preparing official material in the language of their states. It more or less makes everyone happy.

it’s about efficiency

The need for the government to privilege Hindi in official work is actually against the interests of efficiency. There is no point in forcing a Kerala bureaucrat in Delhi to read and write file notation in Hindi, as no one will use a language with which he is comfortable. It is unfair of both of them to compel both of them to digest a complex argument by a UP-IT subordinate to write in his mother tongue. The two may write tyrannical English, but it is the language in which they are similar, and it gets the job done. Language is a vehicle, not a destination. In government, it is a means, not an end. Hindi people do not understand this, because promoting Hindi is a goal in itself for them.

In the five decades since the announcement of the ‘three-language formula’, the countrywide implementation has largely failed for two different reasons. At the ideological level, in states like Tamil Nadu, the question of the need to learn a northern language like Hindi has always been controversial, with the anti-Hindi agitation in the state since 1937 a recurring episode. In the northern states, there is no demand for southern language learning, and therefore no northern state has seriously implemented the three-language formula.

recreational vehicle

The irony is that Hindi fanatics should realize that they are winning the war. Today the prevalence of Hindi is much more in the whole of India than half a century ago. It is not because of the blaming of Mr. Shah (or even that of Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu) or the tireless efforts of the Parliamentary Committee on Promotion of Hindi. It is quite simply, because of Bollywood, which has brought a monstrous conversational Hindi to every Indian household. South Indians and North-Eastern people alike are developing some ease and familiarity with Hindi as it is a language in which they are entertained. Later this could make Hindi the national language in the true sense.

But that would be because Indians freely and voluntarily adopt it, not because a Hindi blind bhakt in Delhi lowers his language down the throats of unwilling people. The fact is, its terminology, gender rules, and location don’t come naturally to everyone: native speakers of languages ​​like Malayalam who don’t use gender can understand why a woman should be feminine, but In fact it is a mystery why a table should be feminine at all. If you have grown up with Hindi at home, then it is a matter of ease for you that this “ country is in good shape” instead of this ” country is in bad shape”, but for the rest of us, there is no logical reason to see anything feminine about the national situation.

fear of agenda

It is rarely a good policy to impose in a democracy. But the real fear is far more fundamental: that the advocacy of Hindi is just a small end of a more dangerous wedge – the ideological agenda of those in power who believe in the nationalism of ‘one language, one religion, one nation’. This is a curse for Indians who have grown up and believe in a diverse, inclusive India, whose languages ​​are equally authentic. The Hindutva brigade’s efforts to impose cultural homogeneity in India will be strongly opposed by the rest of us; Our opposition to Hindi is based on our fear that such cultural homogeneity is what really advocates for this language.

Still, if we watch enough Bollywood movies, we will pick up some Hindi one day. Just don’t tell us we should, or else. Language should be a means of opportunity, not of oppression.

The quest for uniformity is always a sign of insecurity, and the BJP’s majoritarianism has gone to the point where it threatens to undermine the social fabric that has held the country together since independence.

It’s time to let the gold dogma lie.

Thiruvananthapuram MP (Congress Party) Shashi Tharoor is a Sahitya Akademi winning author of 23 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including most recently, ‘Pride, Prejudice and Punditry: The Essential Shashi Tharoor’.