A fierce debate has been raging in India over languages and about which language should be the link language so as to act as a bridge between peoples of different states speaking different languages.
India is a diverse, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Therefore, there should be a constructive debate on such vital issues.
Where Does The Constitution Stand?
The Indian constitution does not specify any language as the national language. It is a widely held misconception that Hindi is the national language; it is not. There are 22 official languages which are given constitutional protection as part of the eighth schedule.
Out of these 22, six languages are recognised as classical languages and Hindi is not one of them. However, Article 343(1) states that Hindi shall be the official language of the union (union government) and that English would be used for a period of 15 years from the commencement of the constitution.
Thereafter, the parliament would have to extend the usage of English through law. The constitution does seek to promote the usage of Hindi as much as possible throughout the country. However, non-Hindi speaking states, especially Tamil Nadu have always opposed the imposition of Hindi.
Various anti-Hindi agitations took place, which eventually resulted in the amendment of the “Official Languages Act” in 1967, which guaranteed that English, along with Hindi, would continue to be used as the official language indefinitely.
A Language To Link Us All
Since different states in India have speakers of different languages, there has always been an issue as to which language should be used to communicate between states or between states and the union.
The union and the north Indian states are of the opinion that Hindi should be the link language as it is the most widely spoken language in India, with 43.62% of Indians speaking the language (which includes other languages such as Rajasthani and Bhojpuri) according to the 2011 Census.
The south Indian states contend that the data shows that the majority of Indians (56.38%) are non-Hindi speakers, and therefore, Hindi shouldn’t be made compulsory. Their view is that English should be the link language as education is conducted in English already at the school as well as the college level.
Learning Hindi would require learning a third language which would be an additional burden. Also, English is a global language of communication and is sought by most employers.
Using Hindi to communicate within India and English to communicate with the world, plus the mother tongue, to communicate within the state is burdensome. It would only lead to unnecessary chaos and is unfeasible.
This argument is opposed by others who want “one nation, one language” and believe that all Indians should speak in one language i.e., Hindi.
On Promoting Heterogeneity
The beauty of India lies in the multiplicity of cultures, languages, customs, rituals and traditions. People take great pride in their language and customs and this needs to respected by all.
Some languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu etc. have a literary tradition going back thousands of years and have been spoken for even longer than that; unlike Hindi which is only about 150-200 years old.
These literary traditions need to be protected at all costs to ensure that India thrives as a confident nation. To impose one language, at the cost of all others, on people who have no roots in that language is authoritarianism and completely opposed to the basic tenets of democracy.
Hindi is as alien a language to the Tamil people as French. Imagine what would happen if French was made compulsory in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. There is a saying: “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”, signifying adapting to the local customs.
We must accord respect to regional languages and cultures. We must not see them as a hindrance. Demanding a uniform language, uniform culture, uniform religion across the country, comes from a bigoted and narrow-minded view.
Such a view seeks centralisation, imposition and dominance instead of federalism, cooperation and healthy co-existence. Promoting homogeneity in a country as vast and as diverse as India, would be counter-productive. It would also be an egregious error.
If it becomes a necessity, people automatically learn the language in order to survive in the society. A Tamilian going to work in Gujarat would automatically learn Hindi and Gujarati in order to survive, while a Gujarati coming to Tamil Nadu should learn some Tamil in order to survive.
However, it is quite common to find Hindi speakers complaining that Hindi is not spoken in Chennai, and that all Indians should speak Hindi. This betrays a lack of respect for diverse cultures and their languages.
This kind of arrogance stems from a lack of awareness as well as a belief in the superiority of their own culture and language. “Every Indian should speak the language I speak” is the sort of pompous behaviour which fosters disunity within the country.
Unity In Diversity
We were constantly taught about the phrase ‘unity in diversity’ when we were in school. It’s disheartening to see that this phrase is not really applied in society.
While there exists the freedom to learn any language voluntarily, no language should be imposed upon others compulsorily, each language deserves equal respect.
Each individual has every right to take pride in their language and culture, but the arrogance that one’s language is superior than others, must be shed. This is essential to ensure that the motto of ‘unity in diversity’ is realised in the Indian society.
We have seen how linguistic differences have turned to major ethnic conflicts in a country like Sri Lanka, where the Sinhala-Tamil conflict resulted in a brutal civil war which lasted decades and killed thousands; or secession as in the case of Bangladesh which split from Pakistan mainly due to the subjugation of Bangla language and culture and the imposition and dominance of Urdu.
Therefore, we must realise that equal respect for all languages is essential for the unity of a country.