HINDU, HINDI, HINDUSTAN!?
May be our Union Home Minister really had the penchant
to chant this slogan at a recent celebration of the Hindi Diwas but
stopped short to only stress the primacy of Hindi as the national
language. This had/has become a disease for many of the North Indian
politicians – late Gandhi, Patel, Lohia et al included – to try impose Hindustani/Hindi
as the sole national language of a multi-national country like India which still
has many ancient and living languages to boast of; and Hindi is certainly not
an ancient one; it is just a hybrid of Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and regional Khadiboli
languages/dialects of North India just as Urdu is, with a more recent origin
than Urdu. Nor Hindi can boast of any advanced scientific and technical linguistic
improvements which can attract educated people all over India to its fold – Tamil
and Bengali are more advanced in this sphere. The mere fact that it is the most
widely spoken language in India, and our national movement ever since the days
when Gandhi took its helm in the main has also sanctified and adopted it, does
not make it fully qualified for the post of the sole national language in
India. We have witnessed violent and justified people’s movements, especially
in the South, against measures to forcibly impose it. None would be too pleased
than this editor if we Indians are to shun over-dependence on English and
transact our affairs mainly in our own language – but there are several mother tongues
for several national and sub-national entities in our country and each
linguistic group would like to develop and promote its own language. So, a
healthy competition between the various nationalities and entities to develop
their own languages, if possible improve their mother tongues in consonance
with the latest scientific, technological developments and transact in them is
quite welcome; but that does not in any way derogate the necessity and
importance of English either. Still it is constitutionally recognized and declared
as one of the official languages, mandated as the language for constitutional
courts and generally accepted by the educated public all over India. It can no
longer be derogated as a foreign language as it is reported that after Hindi it
is the most widely spoken language in India and the North East seems to have adopted
it as the main language. So, let us better declare English too as a national
language and make it the sole official language of India without any past
prejudices coming in the way and at the same time develop Hindi and other
regional languages to the maximum extent possible in their respective regions. This
change will also very much simplify, improve and economize, even
federalize, the administration of governments/systems all over India. §§§
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