Imposition of a language is
also an imposition of a culture as well as history and even emotions. Language
never comes alone. It is an enormous package burdened with a heavy baggage.
India’s present rulers cannot be unaware of it. Nevertheless, they are hellbent
on imposing Hindi on the entire nation.
In the 37th
meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee on 8 April 2022, Amit
Shah declared majestically that Hindi would be made compulsory in all schools
of the Northeast till class 10. 22,000 teachers were already recruited to teach
Hindi to the Northeasterners, the Home Minister said. He also exhorted all
Indians to use Hindi instead of English for communication among people whose
mother tongues are different.
“One nation,
one language” is a pet slogan of Amit Shah’s. He raised it rather vociferously in
June 2019, soon after the Draft New Education Policy was made public. The irony
would not have been lost on those who were following the principles of the NEP.
Plurality is one of the foundations of the NEP. It seeks to encourage diversity
and creativity. It supports multiculturalism and multilingualism. Yet the Home Minister
clings rather like a mischievous imbecile on One Nation One Language! [Another
matter of curious fun is that the NEP tries to promote Sanskrit among all
students with yet another slogan of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat!]
Does our
government really know what it wants? Or is it playing some games just for the
sake of hanging on to power for as long as possible?
Whatever the
answers are, certain sections of the population end up being victims of linguistic
discrimination when the Home Minister’s slogan moves from words into action.
And vision statements like the NEP can gape like gargoyles on grotesquely
characterless edifices.
India has too many languages for any one language to boss over. As the 3 June 2022 issue of the Frontline says, “In a country as multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-linguistic, multi-sartorial and multi-culinary as India, where multilingualism is increasingly becoming the norm, it is impossible to conceive of one language to the exclusion of all others.” This issue of the Frontline is dedicated to India’s quintessential multilinguality. It says that India has around 700 full-fledged languages, 1800 mother tongues, numerous dialects and many other minor/unrecognised languages. All India Radio broadcasts in 24 languages and 150 dialects. Will all these languages give way to the proposed majestic march of Hindi? What a futile dream! And for what purpose unless it is some cheap political ends?
The Frontline
goes on to draw our attention to the fact that one-third of the world’s 6000-odd
languages are spoken in India. These languages fall into several genetically
and geographically diverse families. The Dravidian, the Indo-Aryan, the Austro-Asiatic,
and the Tibeto-Burman groups of languages make India “a unique linguistic area
of centuries of co-existence”.
Hindi is, in
fact, a nobody there. A newcomer. Hindi is no older than the 18th century.
And whose language is it? It is spoken mainly in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, and Rajasthan (the BIMARU states). And it is not even their language,
argues the Frontline. Bihar has its own languages like Maithili and
Magahi besides Bhojpuri. UP has Awadhi, Bundeli and Bhojpuri. MP has Bagheli,
Malawi and Gond. Rajasthan has Mewari and Marwari. Interestingly, even these
languages are older than Hindi. Hindi which is nothing more than a latecomer
dialect is now claiming status as the national language of a gargantuan assortment
of cultures called India.
The concept
of Hindi heartland is a myth created by myopic politicians with ulterior
motives. It is tremendously discriminatory. The concept seeks to impose one synthetically
forged language and culture on a billion plus people. This is how dictatorships
begin. This is how enslavement of peoples begins.
This should
not go on. Let India remain a country of diversities. Cultural, linguistic,
religious, sartorial, culinary… Let that be an infinite variety that enchants
the world. And if Amit Shah and others want Indians to learn Hindi, do not ram
it down their throats. In the words of the Frontline, “If Hindi is not forced
to be seen as a marker of identity of India, probably speakers of other
languages will not find it unacceptable.”
There is no
worse form of discrimination than imposing your identity on the other.
PS. This post is the 2nd part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter
on the theme of DISCRIMINATION.
Part
1: Gender
discrimination in the womb
Next
will be on Religious discrimination
Hari Om
ReplyDeleteIn principle, to have one common language for commerce and governance is not a bad thing of itself. However, as you say, if it is enforced as the cost of all regional speech it becomes tyrannical... and it is doubly surprising that this is so vehemently being applied from those who ought to have learned lessons from the imposition of English in similar fashion. YAM xx
Our present leaders don't learn from history and hence history gets tragicomically repeated.
DeleteJust back from a trip to Meghalaya and this topic has a fresh resonance. They don't know Hindi at all or well, just bare minimum - Khana, paisa, kitna ! Just enough to give food and take money in exchange for it.
ReplyDeleteI read your post on Meghalaya.
DeleteThe NE tribals are not fond of Hindi. They embrace English happily. There are many reasons. Culture is one. Seeing the Indian plainsmen as ruthless exploiters is another.
I love reading your posts. Most of the things you say hit the nail right on the head?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ginia.
Delete