DNA Samwad: Hum Sab Ek Hain - Is Hindi the unifier of multilingual India?

Recently, BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that while regional languages are the country's strength there should be one language for the whole country. The statement received considerable flak from states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Shah later clarified saying, "I never asked for imposing Hindi over other regional languages and had only requested for learning Hindi as the second language after one's mother tongue." However, the issue of Hindi and other Indian languages refuses to die. While the proponents of Hindi welcome the prospect of it being a national language, advocates of regional languages say that it should not happen at the cost of other languages. DNA this week organised a round table to discuss the issue of language threadbare with eminent academicians, authors, and poets working in the domain of Hindi and other Indian languages. Interlocutors from other Indian languages raised the need for the Central government to think beyond Hindi and classical languages and to invest more in the growth and development of other Indian languages as well. The advocates of Hindi focussed on the fact that the time is ripe to replace English with Hindi, as the second language in non-Hindi-speaking states' schools. It is Hindi that can be an enabling language to give India its rightful place in a globalised world. Those advocating for regional languages state that it is the diversity that is the country's strength rather than the imposition of one language on the whole of India.

Dr Shitlaprasad Dube
Working President, Hindi Sahitya Academy, Maharashtra

Hindi language in totality doesn't mean 'Hindutva' or Hindu. If we try to put our words in someone's mouth and try to make an opinion, then it is a different thing. Secondly, though I have been proficient in Hindi, Marathi, English and speak a little Gujarati, I try to learn other languages as well. I think, every Hindi language follower or speaker should learn other languages.

Hindi language was given the place of national language because of the trilingual formula being followed by every state. What is pertinent to note here is when we talk about language, it should mean all Indian languages and not only one. Since we as a nation aren't following that, it is poising a danger to all regional languages. And the reason behind this is the education system owing to its privatisation. Schools have failed to ingrain regional languages in the education system and are only promoting English following the model of globalisation.

What we, as Indians, need to understand is that it is not only about Hindi but all regional languages. If we are able to save Marathi, we would restore Hindi, if we will be able to strengthen Kannada, we would be able to save Hindi. A section of people living in the area of Vasai and Virar, where over 13 villages with Catholic as the dominant religion, speak Samvedi language. The language has not been heard of. A family said that it's their primary language. However, today's generation aspiring to study in convent schools have lost the idea of their own languages. What needs to be done is to strengthen our Indian languages and not to promote English.

The fear that Hindi would suppress other languages isn't right. States like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana would know that Dakhini Hindi would have been their only language and represented them, according to history. Sanskrit has never been a North Indian language but it has its root in Kashmir and the South. Bhakti movement started from Southern states and travelled to northern states.

While people from states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra learned Hindi, those from Hindi-speaking states didn't show any effort to learn Southern regional or state languages. Coming from a Hindi-speaking state, I feel guilty about it. All the Hindi-speaking people living in non-Hindi-speaking states should have learned the respective state language but they didn't learn and that's where the Hindi speaking people have gone wrong.
While I am promoting all 22 Indian languages, people shouldn't be living with the idea of just one language, but all of them.

Vidhi Jain
Hindi writer, poet and language expert

Our country is named as Bharat and it has been Bharat for a very long time. Some people came and named it India, and we have been walking this India line. In English, we write India or Indian. This title came from English. The biggest issue in front of us is how to get English out of the picture. Today, it is not necessary to know English to communicate with the world, we have software to translate and transmit languages in real-time. In no language in our country do we refer to it as anything but Bharat. We have to make a strong Bharat, and protect Bharatiya languages.

In Maharashtra, whenever there's a letter from the government, it is in Marathi and English and at times in Hindi. A lot of people who come to Mumbai do not understand Marathi and need help. Bharat has something extraordinary everywhere. We must unite all states as today we are all divided. Hindi is the language which will be everyone's language. If any state government issues any notification, for example, Maharashtra, let the first page be in Marathi and the second in Hindi. This will unite us and take us forward in every field from art to business. We should have one language and other languages can support it.

The question is, will the remaining 21 languages be scared if Hindi is brought in? Fear is natural because Hindi-speakers are large in number and it is natural for those in large numbers to behave like rulers. The question is, how do we prevent it?

There are two schools I would like to mention — Jawahar Navoday Vidyala and Saraswati Shishu Mandir. Both schools used to teach one Indian language. Now it is only in Jawahar Navoday Vidyala that the practice is being continued. The point is that people are scared initially. Even I use to be scared of Marathi, but now I have learned it and use it in theatre.

In the South, the states have stuck to their culture and tradition. Today, we can find someone who speaks pure Marathi but it is hard to find one who speaks pure Hindi. The fear of Hindi Hegemony is valid, but then we have to overcome this, and we need to start telling kids at an initial age that they belong to all Indian languages. Slowly, the fear will die.

We need to discard divide-and-rule politics. For this, we need a strong foundation, and Hindi can be it. Let the President's website be in all languages. We should teach our students Bharatiya languages. They can learn English within 45 days. We should move ahead with the concept of one-nation-one-language and other languages should support Hindi as their sister. It has found its presence in every city and state.

Sunil Tambe
Senior Author and Journalist

Hindi does not have its cultural region, whatever Hindi we speak today is syncretised Hindi. It is a modern language and came to be in the last 100 years or so, which was during the Indian Freedom Movement. Earlier, there was Bhojpuri, Maithili then Braj. It is an abstract and constructed language and as such has been imposed because the nationality of Indians is also abstract. When a person says I am an Indian, it doesn't mean anything. If I say, I am a Tamilian or a Gujarati, then we would be related to this country. We speak whatever we speak and follow a culture that's why language carries a culture.

Language is not made of thoughts, it is made of culture. When we talk about Hindi cinemas in earlier times, they were all in Urdu. Alam Ara, which was the first Indian talkie, it came in Urdu. Mughal-e-Azam was in Urdu. Urdu was considered to be an elite language. Cinema became popular and Bollywood incorporated other languages and that's when Hindi cinema branched out to the entire country. Bollywood Hindi has been derived from many languages and we are proud of that but it does not mean you can impose it on the people.

If we are talking of one nation, one language it was never accepted in the Indian National Movement because the Indian National Movement is inclusive. In the Constituent Assembly, it was discussed what should be the national language. Hindi only won by 1 vote to become the official language and not the national language. Language was used as a tool when the Mughals ruled, Persian became the language of India. But there was a revolt in the name of Swaraj. What does Swaraj mean? It means the power/right to enact our laws in our language. The Hindi spoken today is so syncretised that it is being imposed on us and Hindi nationalism is a concern for not all Southern states, but also for languages like Rajasthani.

Linguistic states were in existence up to 1980 and after that, the states we have created are not based on languages. To put it simply, Language, cannot bind us.

Dr Achutanand Rai
Hindi Professor, Gauridutt Mittal College

Hindi language has been spoken widely in our country. Since it has already achieved the status of a national language wherever it is spoken, considering it as one should not be a problem.

Every state's official work involves the usage of a particular state language. For example, the government circulars in Maharashtra are in Marathi besides English. Until the usage of the English language is not minimised or completely removed, a regional language would not come up or be strengthened.

Every state has its own language where it is widely spoken. During his address at the United Nations, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke in Hindi. Similarly, former Minister of External Affairs, the late Sushma Swaraj also delivered her speeches in Hindi because a majority of people understand the language.

What can be done to promote regional languages is to make them the primary language of their states, followed by Hindi and third, if required, as English. If school children are being taught the regional language from the beginning, the language would get its lost sheen back.

While countries like Russia and China have given importance to one language which is their own and have been doing good, India has been left behind in promoting the idea of one language, one nation.

This debate has been going on for a long time. What we need to do is not to align or associate Hindi with politics but create a base for it during education. Until we as a country, do not limit the value of English, none of the languages will be able to enjoy a position of importance.

Why can't Hindi be made a national language? It is easy, spoken widely and has been included in the educational system. There should be one language which represents 'Bharat'.

Deepak Pawar
Founder, Marathi Abhyas Kendra

Home Minister Amit Shah made a statement on Hindi as a unifying language. This comes from the typical 'Sangh Parivar' ideology of Hindu, Hindi, and Hindustani. It was deliberately designed and it can be traced back to statements by Rajnath Singh when he was the Home Minister and Sushma Swaraj when she was the Minister of External Affairs and proposed that Hindi be made a United Nations language. It shows that Hindi is given preference over other Indian languages.

Plus, Hindi is not the only problem. English is also one of them. With English, there is global hegemony, with Hindi, there is internal colonisation. This debate has been on since the Constitution was made and in the Constituent Assembly today, there are 'Hindi-wallahs' and 'English-wallahs'. It leads to the euphemism that India does not have a national language. And that it will make it the official language of the Union and will have English as an associate official language.

If you want to keep this country united, it is important to keep the status quo rather than shoving one language down the people's throat.

With admission, comes the fear. Hindi-wallahs don't feel the need to learn any other language because they think that it is everybody's responsibility to learn Hindi but not their responsibility to learn other languages. I completely disagree with the method that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray follows with his party, demanding that those who come to Mumbai must learn Marathi. But it is also true that no second language has suffered as much as Marathi because of Hindi's dominance.

Education is a state matter and the government has consistently put English on the concurrent list. They have not only sabotaged other regional languages but also Hindi because the way private and self-financed schools flourished not only affected Marathi but also Hindi in states like Uttar Pradesh. The problem with Hindi-wallahs is that they don't realise that they are bigger victims than us because of English's dominance. If supporters of Hindi want us to work with them, they must realise that we need complete assurance that there is no hidden agenda on making Hindi the national language. Because constitutionally, we are like the European Union — a country with multiple languages and multiple nationalities. If we are forced to gulp down one language, it will lead to Balkanisation of this country.

There is a difference between uniformity and unity. We look like a proper federal state but we are not. If you believe all languages are equal, you should have a ministry of Indian languages, which will simultaneously work for all languages. We need to move from being a quasi-federal state to a federal state.

To conclude, whatever Amit Shah might have said brought together people who may not have otherwise united.

Kumana Rajan
Tamil Author

This debate is not new. When India got Independence, there were 500 princely states speaking more than 500 languages and dialects. There were Indo-Aryan languages in the Northern part of India and in the South, there were Dravidian ones. People have been assured that their identity, their culture, and their language will not be affected by joining India. Hence, we should understand the fabric of India — it is a union of states. We should be called the United States of India.

Many people have this feeling that South Indians are opposing Hindi. It is not so. Way back in the 20th century, West Bengal said that the use of Hindi and Sanskrit will spoil their culture and language. In 1919, Madhusudhan Das of Odisha advocated for a separate state based on linguistic identity as the state's people were not able to communicate with West Bengal's leadership. It thus became the first linguistic state formed in 1936. Bihar too was formed on a similar basis. Andhra raised a similar problem saying it was forced to be a part of the Madras Presidency. Hence, in 1953 Andhra Pradesh came into being. It is then that Indian rulers realised that linguistic aspirations can materialise into something more.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development recently released a report that Indo-Aryan languages are indigenous ones and that the Dravidian languages were introduced from outside. The reality is exactly the opposite. In the name of implementing education policies, promoting Hindi, Sanskrit and other Northern languages, you are trying to distort the history of each region. This is an effort to propagate Hindutva all over the state without realising that we are a federal state where each language, each culture, and their sovereignty has to be respected. We are not a unitary state. Even now when Home Minister Amit Shah says that the strength of India is its regional languages, it is only lip service. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat and during other speeches has said that Tamil is older than Sanskrit. If you celebrate Hindi Divas, why not celebrate a Tamil Divas, Marathi Divas, and Odia Divas?

The world is shrinking because of science and technology. To communicate with the world, English is a must. How many of us send our kids to our regional-language schools? Till we do not develop our languages, wiping out English is not possible.

Sanskrit is not the language for the whole of India. Tamil is a Dravidian language, our culture is threatened and our history is being destroyed in the name of education. Education was a state subject but in 1976, it was taken to the concurrent list. Gradually, the North Indian hegemony is trying to gradually cease the autonomy of the states. For Sanskrit and Hindi, the HRD ministry spends Rs 450 crore. Besides that, only the classical languages get some funds. When you speak of nationalism, all languages should be treated equally.

Dr Prakash Parab
Language expert and member, Language Advisory Committee, Government of Maharashtra

Prima facie the propagation of Hindi seems to be language politics, but basically it is Hindutva politics. The BJP wants to spread its Hindutva narrative to the masses of southern states and the main hurdle is southern languages and scripts. This is why they want Hindi to be the sole language of national unity.

All regional languages, including Hindi, are in the same sinking boat. There is no fear of Hindi hegemony, at least in non-Hindi-speaking states. It is, in fact, English hegemony that they are struggling to fight. The UNESCO has identified four criteria for a language to be considered safe — the first is that it is used in all domains and for all functions, the second is that it has strong intergenerational transmission, third is it is the medium of instruction in all levels of education, and the fourth is it is used in all new domains. Hindi doesn't enjoy any special status compared to other languages. Southern states will not accept the imposition of Hindi.

Even in Maharashtra, there is resentment over Hindi. We religiously follow the trilingual formula. The central government doesn't use this formula — it only uses Hindi and English. You cannot replace one language with another. We need coexistence of all regional languages. Hindi-speaking people need to realise that there is no need to compete with Indian languages. Even in Southern states, there is a problem of English hegemony and not of Hindi. In Bengaluru, people are learning English and are giving up on regional languages.

When Christian missionaries came to India, they learned local languages to connect with the people. However, the current dispensation wants to spread Hindutva politics in a short period of time. Since they are unable to learn South India's languages in a short period of time, their solution is to impose Hindi.

There is no such thing as Hindi hegemony. We perceive language as currency. English has greater social and economic value and hence, we are leaning towards it.

This is not happening only in India but across the world. The space that has been taken over by English should be reclaimed. If we speak against English, we are termed as xenophobic and sectarian. We can speak against Hindi and even abuse it, but we can't say anything against English.

Hindi and other languages should come together, it is in our interest as English is here to stay. We need a comprehensive language policy, especially in medium of instruction in education. We have adopted an either-or policy — that is, we either learn in English or in Marathi, they are unequal. Naturally, we will choose English, because it is like the Dollar. English gives us money. It isn't that I learn English more, if it were Spanish which gave more money, I may move towards it. We still love our regional languages but there is a conflict of interest. Mother tongue denotes tradition and culture, but for economic progress the language is English. Which is why it is gaining ground at the cost of all regional languages, including Hindi. We can manage all languages with the allocation of function — for example, which function should English serve and which ones should regional languages serve? For example, in the judiciary, English could be used at the Supreme Court or in the education sector. No Indian regional language is safe right now. They may not be endangered right now, but in 50-100 years they are likely to become dialects. Hence, we need a new language policy, on how to coexist with English. This can especially be done through education — it is the genesis for language protection, we want it to grow.