Languages and national integration
The Centre’s call last month for official interstate communication to be in Hindi by replacing English triggered another divisive trend, this time on the linguistic front. It set off a spat on social media between Sandalwood actor ‘Kiccha’ Sudeep and Bollywood actor-producer Ajay Devgn. It was over the former’s comment that “Hindi is no longer the national language…”. Devgn questioned why southern films were dubbing their movies in Hindi. It even drew in political leaders like ex-Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and the incumbent Basavaraj Bommai who, cutting across party lines, supported Sudeep’s stand. Ironically, the interaction between Kiccha and Devgn was mostly in English—the language sought to be replaced by Hindi. English remains the go-to tongue for people from linguistically different states who don’t know each other’s language. Clearly, the fact that Indian states were formed on a linguistic basis due to language diversity is ignored. It was this diversity that necessitated the use of English in interstate or Centre-state communication as it was used in all regions.
English is strongly embedded in the language culture of India. It is difficult to find a straight sentence in an Indian language without English words, phrases or numbers. Also, English education provides access to jobs not only across India, but also in nations where it is spoken. That is since no Indian language was attempted to be developed into a popular educational language medium to suit the scientific and technological needs and replace English. Most terminologies have remained in English without translations in Indian languages.
Propagating a language is fine. The problem arises only when it is sought to be imposed on others. Also, the cost of replacing English as a link language in terms of man-hours lost through multi-level Hindi crash-courses for state bureaucracies to read, write and speak the language, and its fallout on India’s diverse socio-cultural fabric would be humongous. National integration will be served better if all languages get the right stimulus to flourish instead of cherry-picking one for a booster shot.