Santosh Kumar Mohapatra
The BJP government’s real face is beginning to emerge. Taking advantage of massive victory in recent Lok Sabha election, the BJP government is unabashedly trying to ignite a language divide by imposing Hindi.
The National Education Policy 2019, drafted by an expert panel led by Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, a former chief of the ISRO, recommends, among other things, that non-Hindi speaking states would include the regional language, English and Hindi, while states, where Hindi is spoken, would have English and another modern Indian language in addition to Hindi.
The meaning of three language formula means Hindi will be made a compulsory subject from “pre-school to class 12” which is a shocker for non-Hindi speaking people. This triple-language draft has triggered serious uproar in many states especially southern states like Tamil Nadu. They apprehend that the recommendation would “divide” the country and forcing Hindi is like setting a warehouse on fire. However, facing the backlash, education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal made retreat and said the suggestions were just a report and not a policy yet. Public feedback will be sought and no language will be imposed on any state.
This is not the first time that BJP government tried to thrust Hindi On 27 May 2014, just the day after it rode to power, home ministry made order that all bureaucrats and government officials to write their official correspondence in Hindi, take notes in Hindi and stick to Hindi on official accounts for social media like Twitter and Face-book. In social media, they can use both Hindi and English but priority should be given to Hindi. Due to vociferous protest, then government had to recoil with erstwhile Union home minister Rajnath Singh expressing that all Indian languages are important. India has always had a hierarchy of languages. India’s outstanding diversity of religions, languages and cultures is unique and unmatched. No country in the world comes close to matching the cultural and linguistic diversity of India as the number of “mother tongues “in the country, as listed in the 1961 Census is 1652, Today, as per Peoples Linguistic Survey of India, there are about780 languages- the world’s second highest number, after Papua New Guinea (839).
However, from those 50 are extinct in past five decades. Though, India has 122 major languages, the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages, which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement.
The twenty-two languages that are recognised by the Constitution are: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri,Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdue are included in the Eigth Schedule of the constitution.
In addition, the Government of India has awarded the classical language tag to Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Odia due to their long history of 1500-2000 years. All Indian languages fall into one of these 4 groups: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan and Afro-Asiatic. The defunct and endangered languages of the Andaman Islands form a fifth family.
Odia has the unique distinction of being the only Indo-Aryan with a seemingly Dravidian looking script to have been accorded a classical status. This reveals it’s superiority in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Spoken Odia has many dialects. The tribal people or Adivasis of Odisha (who constitute more than 22.5 percent of the population) speak their own languages belonging to the Dravidian and Munda language families.
While language is the method of human communication either spoken or written, dialect is a particular form of a language which is peculiar to specific region or specific group. While a dialect includes the pronunciations, grammar and vocabulary that people use within group, an accent refers to how people pronounce words.
Many think or perceive that Hindi is our national language. But the Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language. In 2010, the Gujarat high court had specified that India had no national language.
Among the 22 scheduled languages, the official language of the Union Government of India is Hindi along with English. However, state governments can function in English and their own regional languages.
This freedom to choose your language nurtures India’s linguistic pluralism, and enriches our traditions and cultural heritage. However, there have been periodic attempts to impose Hindi on India’s other languages.
Since independence, there has been nation-wide debate, discussions about the detrimental repercussions in pushing Hindi in the name of unity. People have died; people have killed in linguistic skirmishes. It is not only Hindi, but the bigger languages often try to smother smaller ones.
Hence, Jawaharlal Nehru had stated that that English would continue to be in use till such time Hindi is desired by non-Hindi speaking States. But now government is imposing Hindi, while others have not accepted. This is tantamount to Hindi chauvinism as more than half of India’s population, do not speak Hindi. It is not only Hindi but other Indian languages carry importance in world too.
According to Babbel magazine, among the top ten languages by number of native speakers, Chinese is in first position followed by Spanish and English. While Hindi is in 4th position, Bengali and Punjabi/Lahnda are not far behind with 7th and 10th position respectively.
But, in term of total number of speakers, English is in number one position followed by Chinese. However, while Hindi is in 3rd position, Bengali is not far behind with 8th position. Malayalam, the language spoken in the southern Indian state of Kerala, is the longest palindrome (a word, verse that reads the same backwards and forwards) in the English language. Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages known to mankind.
NASA scientist Rick Briggs once said that Sanskrit is the only unambiguous language in existence. Sanskrit is the most computer friendly language.14 universities in Germany offer Sanskrit as a subject. In 1999, UNESCO had also declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day to commemorate the Bengali Language Movement in 1952.
Kannada language has the second oldest written tradition of all vernacular languages of India. Hence, instead of arbitrary language imperialism, we need a clear language policy. The idea of Hindi imposition and to align it with national unity is entirely a hoax. Without mutual respect for each other’s languages and cultures; we will be imperilling national unity and integrity.
Imposition of Hindi is tantamount to decimating the regional and linguistic identity as most of states including Odisha are identified by their languages. Weakening their languages may weaken their identity and dignity of people.
What is important is that how much talented, brilliant one may be; one expresses his/her inner feelings in best possible way in mother tongue only. One does not cry or seek help in other languages.
When one’s language is drowned, his/her culture is distorted. If all speak the same language, our diversity of thought will be lost, and it becomes a hurdle to our cultural adeptness .Diversity does not mean lack of unity but it is an incontrovertible aspect of Indian culture and society for which India is famous in world.
Government should not be oblivious of the fact that language is medium of expression not manifestation of any individual’s talent or supremacy of any state. We need to preserve our linguistic heritage that makes India so unique.
The writer is an Odisha-based economist. e-Mail: skmohapatra67@gmail.com.