Only Hindi can work to unite country, says Amit Shah
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 12:51 IST
UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 22:49 IST
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Amit Shah
Amit Shah
DMK, AIADMK, Mamata oppose Mr. Shah's Hindi push; three-language formula should not be tinkered with, says Congress.
Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the country should come together to promote Hindi. In his Twitter posts on ‘Hindi Diwas’, Mr Shah added that this should not be done at the cost of other languages.
“India is a country of different languages and every language has its own importance but it is very important to have a language of the whole country which should become the identity of India globally,” he said on Twitter, writing in Hindi. “Today, if one language can do the work of uniting the country, then it is the most spoken language, Hindi,” he added.
Gandhi’s dream
Appealing to citizens to increase the use of the mother tongue and Hindi, Mr. Shah equated it to realising the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel of one language for the country.
Later, at a Hindi Divas event in Delhi, he said, “Today if you ask a Hindi-medium student to speak for 40 minutes in Hindi, he won’t be able to do so.”
“There is so much influence of English on us that we cannot talk in Hindi without its help. School students should be asked to speak in Hindi and whoever uses an English word should be given one mark,” Mr. Shah said. Stating that the nation was home to 122 languages and more than 19,500 dialects, the Minister said people should realise that if languages are lost to foreign influence then “we will be severed from our culture”.
"There are 18 words to refer to a relationship in Hindi, whereas the word “Uncle” is used uniformly to explain all relations in English...We shouldn't surrender to slave mentality. Promoting Hindi should be our national responsibility. Had (Bal Gangadhar) Tilak and Gandhi not stressed on using Hindi, we would have lost it to the British,” he said.
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Tamil Nadu leaders decry Amit Shah’s pitch for Hindi
The Minister said Hindi had to be taken to areas such as law and science and technology and the “battle was only half won”.
He said Centre will teach children in Northeast states to read and write Hindi. “I was in Guwahati last week, I heard that many people are hiring private tutors to teach Hindi to their children. Centre has decided that we will teach them Hindi,” he said.
He said the members of the Constituent Assembly while framing the Constitution had agreed to make Hindi the national language of India. As per the Official Languages Act, 1963, Hindi and English are languages to be used in correspondence between ministries and State governments.
Hindi Divas is observed to mark the decision of the Constituent Assembly on September 14, 1949 to extend official language status to Hindi. It was first observed in 1953.
Mr. Shah said Hindi should reach every individual and every home in the country.
On Hindi Diwas, Amit Shah says Hindi can unite nation, south leaders call it ‘forced imposition’
Earlier, Tamil Nadu had opposed the draft national policy on education that called for the adoption of a three-language formula in schools — Hindi, English and the local mother tongue in non-Hindi states.
INDIA Updated: Sep 14, 2019 16:32 IST
HT Correspondent
HT Correspondent
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
While Amit Shah says Hindi can unite the nation, DMK’s MK Stalin has demanded that the home minister take back his statement.
While Amit Shah says Hindi can unite the nation, DMK’s MK Stalin has demanded that the home minister take back his statement. (PTI Photo )
In southern parts of the country, where language is a very delicate issue, Home Minister Amit Shah’s comment that Hindi can play a key role in ‘uniting the country’ triggered reactions from various quarters on Saturday. While Tamil Nadu leader MK Stalin demanded that the home minister take back his statement, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah said ‘language cannot be promoted through falsehood’
On Hindi Diwas, Shah, in a series of tweets wrote: “India is a country of different languages and every language has its own importance but it is very important to have a language of the whole country which should become the identity of India in the world. Today, if one language can do the work of tying the country to the door of unity, then it is the most spoken Hindi language.”
“Today, on the occasion of Hindi Day, I appeal to all the citizens of the country that we should increase the use of our mother tongue and also use the Hindi language as one language to realise the dreams of Bapu and iron man Sardar Patel. Happy Hindi Day,” he said.
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DMK leader MK Stalin instantly responded with, “We have been continuously waging protest against imposition of Hindi. Today’s remarks made by Amit Shah gave us a jolt, it will affect the unity of the country. We demand that he takes his statement back.” The DMK president added that the issue would be discussed at the executive meeting of his party the day after tomorrow.
Amit Shah
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@AmitShah
· Sep 13, 2019
भारत विभिन्न भाषाओं का देश है और हर भाषा का अपना महत्व है परन्तु पूरे देश की एक भाषा होना अत्यंत आवश्यक है जो विश्व में भारत की पहचान बने। आज देश को एकता की डोर में बाँधने का काम अगर कोई एक भाषा कर सकती है तो वो सर्वाधिक बोले जाने वाली हिंदी भाषा ही है।
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Amit Shah
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@AmitShah
आज हिंदी दिवस के अवसर पर मैं देश के सभी नागरिकों से अपील करता हूँ कि हम अपनी-अपनी मातृभाषा के प्रयोग को बढाएं और साथ में हिंदी भाषा का भी प्रयोग कर देश की एक भाषा के पूज्य बापू और लौह पुरूष सरदार पटेल के स्वप्प्न को साकार करने में योगदान दें।
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Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy also spoke on the issue saying, “Trying to push Hindi alone is not going to keep the country together. We have to respect all religions,cultures & languages, that is the main mantra of Indian governance.”
HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) also responded tweeting: “Today Hindi diwas is being celebrated across the nation. When will Narendra Modi celebrate Kannada language day, as it is also a Scheduled language as per the Constitution, alongside Hindi. I hope you remember that Kannadigas are also a part of this federal system.”
Karnataka’s Congress leader Siddaramaiah also jumped into the debate with a caustic, “Let there be a stop to the lie that Hindi is the national language. Like kannada it is one of 22 official languages. A language cannot be promoted through lies and falsehood. It grows through harmony and exchange.”
The Congress leader added: “Languages are repositories of knowledge, they can be promoted only through love and not through imposition and pressure. Our opposition is not to Hindi the language, it is against forceful imposition. I, too, am opposed to the celebration of Hindi Diwas.”
Language had always been a sensitive issue in the south with Tamil Nadu’s anti-Hindi agitation of the 1960’s playing a crucial role in the growth of Dravidian parties in the state.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had opposed the draft national policy on education that called for the adoption of a three-language formula in schools — Hindi, English and the local mother tongue in non-Hindi states.
Parties across ideologies— from the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to the Left and actor Kamal Haasan’s fledgeling Makkal Needhi Maiam — slammed the report, which they saw as a precursor to the imposition of Hindi.
There have, in the past, been protests over moves to have Hindi sign boards at bus stops and railway stations with parties calling it ‘Hindi imposition’ and ‘Hindi imperialism’.
In Bengaluru, Hindi boards at Metro stations also triggered the language debate with many feeling that Hindi was being imposed on people.
Unpacking Amit Shah's Hindi Divas comment: 'Himperialism' is characteristic of BJP's empire-building ambitions
India Samrat Sep 18, 2019 11:21:44 IST
It is odd that Indian languages apart from Hindi should be chosen for sacrifice in this battle against foreign languages, but in any case, which foreign languages, in the plural, are being referred to?
Bangla, Punjabi, Tamil and Nepali are spoken in other countries, but cannot be called foreign.
The foreign language in question is obviously English, which has already found a place even in the remotest corners of India.
Joining the Dots is a weekly column by author and journalist Samrat in which he connects events to ideas, often through analysis, but occasionally through satire
***
Amit Shah’s statement on Hindi being the one necessary language for India has kicked off quite the political storm. Shah, in the course of a speech on the occasion of “Hindi Divas”, said: “Diversity of languages and dialects is strength of our nation. But there is need for our nation to have one language, so that foreign languages don’t find a place. This is why our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as Raj Bhasha”.
If “diversity of languages and dialects is strength of our nation”, then why is Shah advocating the weakening of this strength?
The answer is in the next sentence: Shah wants “foreign languages” to not find a place in India. It is odd that Indian languages apart from Hindi should be chosen for sacrifice in this battle against “foreign languages”, but in any case, which “foreign languages”, in the plural, is he referring to? Bangla, Punjabi, Tamil and Nepali are spoken in other countries, but cannot be called foreign. The foreign language in question is obviously English, which unknown to Shah has unfortunately already found a place even in the remotest corners of India. In fact, it is now the link language for the whole world. So, for example, millions of Chinese now learn English, because they want to communicate with the rest of the world. So do a lot of Japanese, Koreans, Indonesians, Thais, Germans, Swedes and others. In India, a lot of people from states such as Gujarat — which send vast numbers of emigrants to the West — are especially keen learners of English.
Unpacking Amit Shahs Hindi Divas comment: Himperialism is characteristic of BJPs empire-building ambitions
The assertion that our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as the Raj Bhasha or official language is a vast generalisation. File Photo
Shah’s assertion that our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as the Raj Bhasha or official language is also a vast generalisation. For instance, one of the rare Indian freedom fighters who literally fought for freedom, Subhas Chandra Bose, had favoured the usage of Hindustani, meaning a mix of Hindi and Urdu, in the Roman script. This avoided the clash between Hindi and Urdu, and helped him to lead a force, the Indian National Army, that had Hindu, Muslim and Sikh soldiers from across what are now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. His polar opposite in many ways, Mohandas Gandhi, who was initially a votary of Hindi, also gradually came around to supporting Hindustani.
Also Read: Hindi 'imposition' debate: Schools can play key role in promoting integration through 3-language formula
The freedom fighter who championed the idea of “Hindi Hindu Hindustan” is the original hero of the BJP and its affiliates. His name is VD Savarkar. Like hundreds of other freedom fighters (whose names no one today remembers), he was incarcerated in the Cellular Jail in the Andamans. Unlike them, he authored a series of mercy petitions pledging his loyalty to the British crown. The tales of his heroic exploits began circulating after his release from prison with the publication of a book called Life of Barrister Savarkar written in a foreign language, English, by someone under the pseudonym of Chitragupta, which happens to be the name of the assistant of Yamraj, the god of death. This Chitragupta was eventually revealed by the book’s publisher to be none other than Savarkar himself.
The idea of religious nationalism, championed by Hindu nationalists such as the atheist Savarkar on the one hand and the irreligious, unorthodox Muslim MA Jinnah on the other, eventually broke up the British Indian Empire into three pieces, and Yamraj had a busy time as a million or so people died as a direct result. Those three pieces, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, have still not really found peace with themselves or with one another. The relationship between India and Pakistan is outright hostile. The one between Bangladesh and the other two is complicated.
Internally, Bangladesh has the best chance of becoming the kind of unitary, majoritarian nation-state that the Hindutva brigade, whose ideas of the world are about a century out of date, consider the acme of modern nation-building. Pakistan, although much smaller than India, is still too big and diverse. The Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns and others resent Punjabi over-lordship. Urdu is the national language there but the native speakers of the language are the minority Mohajirs, whose status in that country is still not much better than that of refugees. Pakistan therefore suffers from tensions over identity despite being more than 95 percent Muslim.
Also read: Hindi 'imposition' debate — Schools can play key role in promoting integration through 3-language formula
In India, Hindi is not the national language, although some among those who want India to become a Hindu mirror image of Pakistan — a country with one religion and one national language — would like to make it so. This is based on ideas of ethnic nationalism and majoritarianism. However, it is a curious variety of both, and this may have something to do with the map of undivided India that they worship. The expansive maps of Bharat, similar to the one used to depict the extent of Hindi on Hindi Divas recently, include India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is an area where Abraham Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India published in 1928 had listed 179 languages and 544 dialects, although the survey was incomplete as it did not cover most of South India. Why would this vast and diverse area including South and Northeast India be shown as the territory in which Hindi was spoken?
FirstCutbyManjul17092019
The answer lies not in ideas of ethnic nationalism or majoritarianism; it lies in ideas of imperialism. The map of India that is worshipped by the Hindu nationalists is the map of the British Indian Empire. After the British left, the next set of elites inherited the empire. This was the lot decried as brown sahibs and Macaulay’s Indians by the nativists. Politically, the battle now is between this lot and the other group that has benefited most from the combination of Independence and Partition in India — the upper and intermediate caste Hindu elites from the Hindi-speaking “cow belt” of northern and western India. This group became dominant in the Indian remnants of the British Indian Empire after Partition at one stroke forever decimated Bengal and Punjab. The Punjabi Muslims inherited Pakistan, and Bangladesh went to the Bengali Muslims.
From our archives: Why Hindi isn't the national language
The attempt to convert other Indians to Hindi-speaking Hindus, preferably vegetarian, is of a piece with the ambitions of empire-building that characterise Shah and his BJP. It is evident in the desire to colour every inch of India’s map saffron, to make India opposition-mukt, and to fully integrate outliers such as Jammu and Kashmir.
When the British were ruling India, we had brown sahibs. Now the current rulers would naturally like to remake the people of this country in their own image. Shah, in his speech on Hindi Divas, mentioned that he was in Guwahati the previous week and had heard that people there were hiring private tutors to teach their children Hindi, and that the Centre had decided to teach them Hindi.
No doubt, there will be many new learners keen to cast themselves in the image of the new sahibs.
Samrat is an author, journalist and former newspaper editor. He tweets as @mrsamratx
Updated Date: Sep 18, 2019 11:21:44 IST
What RSS said about Hindi as a national language 50 years ago
The RSS, the BJP’s ideological fount, too has campaigned for promotion of Indian languages for a long time, but has been careful to avoid being seen as a campaigner to make Hindi a unifying language or according it the status of a national language.
INDIA Updated: Sep 14, 2019 19:45 IST
Smriti Kak Ramachandran
Smriti Kak Ramachandran
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Home Minister Amit Shah presents an award to author Ashok Chakradhar during the 'Hindi Divas Samaroh' in New Delhi, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019.
Home Minister Amit Shah presents an award to author Ashok Chakradhar during the 'Hindi Divas Samaroh' in New Delhi, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. (PTI)
Union home minister Amit Shah’s comment that people should increase the use of their mother tongue and also use Hindi to realise the dreams of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) and Sardar Patel has again sparked off a row over suspicions that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition intended to promote Hindi as the national language.
Though Shah had underlined that the promotion of Hindi should not come at the cost of other Indian languages, the statement did create a flutter with parties in the non-Hindi speaking states where the BJP is trying to increase its footprint. While DMK leader MK Stalin criticised the comment and said “this is India, not Hindia”, similar reactions flooded social media sites.
Incidentally, the party’s ideological fount the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) too has campaigned for promotion of Indian languages for a long time, but has been careful to avoid being seen as a campaigner to make Hindi a unifying language or according it the status of a national language.
Watch: Amit Shah’s ‘Hindi a unifier’ appeal stirs row, opposition call it ‘a bid to impose’
Amit Shah’s ‘Hindi a unifier’ appeal stirs row, opposition call it ‘a bid to impose’
Home Minister Amit Shah appealed for an increase in the use of Hindi and said that it can be a great unifier.
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In December 1957, the second sarsanghchalak of the RSS MS Golwalkar in an interview to the Organiser spelt out his stand on the question of a national language.
“I consider all our languages as national languages. They are equally our national heritage. Hindi is one among them which, by virtue of its countrywide usage, has been adopted as the State Language. It will be wrong to describe Hindi alone as the national language and others as provincial languages. That would not be seeing things in the right perspective,”Golwalkar said in the interview.
As it sets about increasing its own presence on the ground, the Sangh has been conscious of cultivating its own image as that of a pan Indian identity and not a Hindi-speaking outfit. The design to propagate Indian languages and dialects helps the Sangh creates more space for its ideology and also shatter the impression that the BJP is a Hindi-heartland phenomenon with no takers beyond the Vindhyas.
Most pracharaks or full time workers who are deputed across the country to undertake work related to the Sangh are known to be fluent in more than one Indian language. It is not uncommon to come across a Malayalam-speaking pracharak break into fluent Bangla or a Marathi-speaking pracharak having mastered Telugu.
To lend more weight to its campaign to promote Indian languages, the RSS at its annual meeting in Nagpur in 2018, passed a resolution calling for efforts to protect and conserve Indian languages and dialects.
“The declining trend in the practice and usage of Bharatiya languages, elimination of their words and replacement by words of foreign languages are emerging as a serious challenge. Today, many languages and dialects have become extinct and several others are endangered,” the resolution passed at the end of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha read.
Later while taking questions from mediapersons, a senior RSS functionary had assured that the resolution, which calls for protection of Indian languages and dialects, does not indicate the supremacy of any one language particularly Hindi nor does it oppose learning foreign languages to expand one’s knowledge.
The timing of the resolution coincided with several states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana accusing the BJP of trying to foist Hindi across the country. That fear primarily stemmed from recommendations made by Sangh affiliates such as the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, which wanted the NCERT to remove English, Urdu and Arabic words including a couplet from noted poet Mirza Ghalib from textbooks.
Over the years, RSS functionaries have been empathetic in underscoring the benefits of imparting education in the mother-tongue; even as it has all too often stressed on the mainstreaming of Sanskrit. Its affiliate the Samskrita Bharati for instance does not push for making the classical language compulsory, but easy to grasp to increase its popularity.
First Published: Sep 14, 2019 19:01 IST
India Vs Hindia: Migration from North, Job Prospects Trigger Language Equality Debates Across South
In Tamil Nadu, which has been fighting the imposition of Hindi since Independence, all political parties led by the DMK swung into action, warning the Centre against any such move.
D P Satish | dp_satishUpdated:September 18, 2019, 1:10 PM ISTfacebookTwitterskype
India Vs Hindia: Migration from North, Job Prospects Trigger Language Equality Debates Across SouthPro-Kannada organisations protest against Hindi Diwas in Bengaluru.
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Bengaluru: On September 14, to celebrate ‘World Hindi Day’, Union Home Minister and National president Amit Shah tweeted his views on making Hindi a link language in India.
Top political leaders from non-BJP parties and language activists in the south took to Twitter and Facebook to attack Shah for advocating what they called RSS’ unfulfilled dream of ‘one nation, one language’.
Even though Shah remained silent, not wanting to join the issue, his party colleagues came to his defense. Some of them were vocal in support of Hindi for all, the remaining ones were placatory assuring no harm to other major languages in India.
In Tamil Nadu, which has been fighting the imposition of Hindi since Independence, all political parties led by the DMK swung into action, warning the Centre against any such move.
Even in Karnataka, a loud protest erupted accusing the Centre of promoting Hindi hegemony at the cost of much older Indian languages. There have been murmurs of protests from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala as well.
During the 1964-65 ‘anti-Hindi’ riots, several protesters were killed in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka forcing the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to withdraw his decision to make Hindi a national language. Indira Gandhi, who was a minister in his Cabinet, had criticised the move even visited Tamil Nadu to pacify the angry and hurt people.
After that, all successive governments at the Centre kept the issue of ‘one national language’ buried, fearing a huge backlash. But the indirect promotion of Hindi continued in various forms leading to protests from time to time.
According to Kannada activists, the current anti-Hindi imposition movement is a direct response to north Indian migrants’ condescending attitude towards native languages and culture of the south. They argue that they have nothing against Hindi as a language and respect its promotion in Hindi-speaking states. They demand that the Centre promote non-Hindi languages in their respective states with the same zeal and enthusiasm.
Arun Javagal, a leading activist from Karnataka, describes it as a movement for language equality. “It is not against Hindi. It is against promoting Hindi at the cost of other major languages. In the language hierarchy, Hindi is above all other languages. The Centre is willfully doing it by using a provision in our Constitution. That should be corrected first. We are against that provision. We want language equality. All 22 languages in the 8th schedule of the Constitution should be treated equally. No more, no less. The Centre is spending our money to impose Hindi over the rest of India. We will oppose that,” he said.
Professor SG Siddaramaiah, former chairman of Kannada Development Authority (KDA), has been fighting for language equality for a long time. He said that some vested interests are trying to create a rift between Hindi speakers and non-Hindi speakers by calling it an anti-Hindi movement.
“Why is the Centre promoting Hindi over Kannada or Tamil or Bengali in states where these are state languages? What are its intentions? Why should Bengaluru Metro have sign boards in Kannada when we don’t get the same privileges in Delhi or Lucknow Metro? Do they have boards in Kannada or Tamil or Marathi?” Siddaramaiah asked.
Vasanth Shetty, a technocrat and language activist, feels that economic liberalisation has worsened the situation. “It is a fight between ‘Hindia’ and India. The Centre feels Hindi alone can represent the entire nation. India is a federal nation. It is a Union of States. The linguistic states were created to protect and promote all major languages. What the Centre is now doing is unconstitutional. If Hindi can generate jobs, why are millions from Hindi states migrating to south and west to seek jobs and educational opportunities? How many from the south and west migrate to Hindi states for jobs and education?” he asks. He punctures the arguments that Hindi opens doors of opportunities.
The Hindi speakers demand all services in Hindi in non-Hindi states, but they don’t extend the same courtesies to non-Hindi speakers in Hindi states, he says.
Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is vocal about language equality, argues that Centre should promote Hindi only in Hindi states. “The Centre should spend money on Hindi in Hindi states. Not in non-Hindi states. In our state, our language is supreme. We don’t need any national language. All Indian languages are India’s national languages. Why only Hindi?” he charges.
Those comparing Hindi with English have met with criticism across the southern states. “Their argument is, English is foreign, Hindi is Indian. So accept it across India. But the argument is baseless because the same Hindi speakers learn English. Why don’t they learn an Indian language like Kannada or Tamil or Bengali instead of English, if they expect us to learn Hindi and drop English?” language equality activists ask.
The fear of not getting central government jobs because of Hindi imposition has also led to the current crisis in the south. The examination for jobs in central government-run banks, post offices and Railways are only in English and Hindi. It gives a huge advantage to candidates whose mother tongue is Hindi over rest of the candidates whose mother tongue is not Hindi.
“They write these examinations in Hindi and get 90 per cent of the jobs all over India. Our youth don’t get jobs in our own states. The central government is the real culprit. Hindi speakers don’t even learn Kannada or Tamil. It leads to huge day-to-day problems at banks, post offices and railway stations. This is nothing but neo-colonialism. They have a colonist mindset towards our languages. That’s why we are opposing Hindi imposition. We want the central government services and examinations in our own languages. We are also Indians, aren’t we? We, the non-Hindi states, contribute over 60% income to government of India. We will never tolerate making Hindi a national language. We will fight them,” said K V Narayana Gowda, president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), a pan Karnataka pro-Kannada organization.
Similar sentiments are expressed in rest of the states in the south. The DMK chief MK Stalin has dared the Centre to make Hindi the national language, warning of serious consequences.
Terming Shah’s statement as dangerous and aimed at dividing the nation, Stalin said language diversity is the foundation of India’s unity.
Surprisingly, the BJP chief minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa has taken a strong stand against Hindi imposition. In an effort to calm the frayed nerves, he tweeted that Kannada is supreme in Karnataka and any effort to undermine it, would not be tolerated.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 12:51 IST
UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 22:49 IST
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Amit Shah
Amit Shah
DMK, AIADMK, Mamata oppose Mr. Shah's Hindi push; three-language formula should not be tinkered with, says Congress.
Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the country should come together to promote Hindi. In his Twitter posts on ‘Hindi Diwas’, Mr Shah added that this should not be done at the cost of other languages.
“India is a country of different languages and every language has its own importance but it is very important to have a language of the whole country which should become the identity of India globally,” he said on Twitter, writing in Hindi. “Today, if one language can do the work of uniting the country, then it is the most spoken language, Hindi,” he added.
Gandhi’s dream
Appealing to citizens to increase the use of the mother tongue and Hindi, Mr. Shah equated it to realising the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel of one language for the country.
Later, at a Hindi Divas event in Delhi, he said, “Today if you ask a Hindi-medium student to speak for 40 minutes in Hindi, he won’t be able to do so.”
“There is so much influence of English on us that we cannot talk in Hindi without its help. School students should be asked to speak in Hindi and whoever uses an English word should be given one mark,” Mr. Shah said. Stating that the nation was home to 122 languages and more than 19,500 dialects, the Minister said people should realise that if languages are lost to foreign influence then “we will be severed from our culture”.
"There are 18 words to refer to a relationship in Hindi, whereas the word “Uncle” is used uniformly to explain all relations in English...We shouldn't surrender to slave mentality. Promoting Hindi should be our national responsibility. Had (Bal Gangadhar) Tilak and Gandhi not stressed on using Hindi, we would have lost it to the British,” he said.
ALSO READ
M.K. Stalin
Tamil Nadu leaders decry Amit Shah’s pitch for Hindi
The Minister said Hindi had to be taken to areas such as law and science and technology and the “battle was only half won”.
He said Centre will teach children in Northeast states to read and write Hindi. “I was in Guwahati last week, I heard that many people are hiring private tutors to teach Hindi to their children. Centre has decided that we will teach them Hindi,” he said.
He said the members of the Constituent Assembly while framing the Constitution had agreed to make Hindi the national language of India. As per the Official Languages Act, 1963, Hindi and English are languages to be used in correspondence between ministries and State governments.
Hindi Divas is observed to mark the decision of the Constituent Assembly on September 14, 1949 to extend official language status to Hindi. It was first observed in 1953.
Mr. Shah said Hindi should reach every individual and every home in the country.
On Hindi Diwas, Amit Shah says Hindi can unite nation, south leaders call it ‘forced imposition’
Earlier, Tamil Nadu had opposed the draft national policy on education that called for the adoption of a three-language formula in schools — Hindi, English and the local mother tongue in non-Hindi states.
INDIA Updated: Sep 14, 2019 16:32 IST
HT Correspondent
HT Correspondent
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
While Amit Shah says Hindi can unite the nation, DMK’s MK Stalin has demanded that the home minister take back his statement.
While Amit Shah says Hindi can unite the nation, DMK’s MK Stalin has demanded that the home minister take back his statement. (PTI Photo )
In southern parts of the country, where language is a very delicate issue, Home Minister Amit Shah’s comment that Hindi can play a key role in ‘uniting the country’ triggered reactions from various quarters on Saturday. While Tamil Nadu leader MK Stalin demanded that the home minister take back his statement, Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah said ‘language cannot be promoted through falsehood’
On Hindi Diwas, Shah, in a series of tweets wrote: “India is a country of different languages and every language has its own importance but it is very important to have a language of the whole country which should become the identity of India in the world. Today, if one language can do the work of tying the country to the door of unity, then it is the most spoken Hindi language.”
“Today, on the occasion of Hindi Day, I appeal to all the citizens of the country that we should increase the use of our mother tongue and also use the Hindi language as one language to realise the dreams of Bapu and iron man Sardar Patel. Happy Hindi Day,” he said.
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DMK leader MK Stalin instantly responded with, “We have been continuously waging protest against imposition of Hindi. Today’s remarks made by Amit Shah gave us a jolt, it will affect the unity of the country. We demand that he takes his statement back.” The DMK president added that the issue would be discussed at the executive meeting of his party the day after tomorrow.
Amit Shah
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@AmitShah
· Sep 13, 2019
भारत विभिन्न भाषाओं का देश है और हर भाषा का अपना महत्व है परन्तु पूरे देश की एक भाषा होना अत्यंत आवश्यक है जो विश्व में भारत की पहचान बने। आज देश को एकता की डोर में बाँधने का काम अगर कोई एक भाषा कर सकती है तो वो सर्वाधिक बोले जाने वाली हिंदी भाषा ही है।
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Amit Shah
✔
@AmitShah
आज हिंदी दिवस के अवसर पर मैं देश के सभी नागरिकों से अपील करता हूँ कि हम अपनी-अपनी मातृभाषा के प्रयोग को बढाएं और साथ में हिंदी भाषा का भी प्रयोग कर देश की एक भाषा के पूज्य बापू और लौह पुरूष सरदार पटेल के स्वप्प्न को साकार करने में योगदान दें।
हिंदी दिवस की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं
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Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy also spoke on the issue saying, “Trying to push Hindi alone is not going to keep the country together. We have to respect all religions,cultures & languages, that is the main mantra of Indian governance.”
HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) also responded tweeting: “Today Hindi diwas is being celebrated across the nation. When will Narendra Modi celebrate Kannada language day, as it is also a Scheduled language as per the Constitution, alongside Hindi. I hope you remember that Kannadigas are also a part of this federal system.”
Karnataka’s Congress leader Siddaramaiah also jumped into the debate with a caustic, “Let there be a stop to the lie that Hindi is the national language. Like kannada it is one of 22 official languages. A language cannot be promoted through lies and falsehood. It grows through harmony and exchange.”
The Congress leader added: “Languages are repositories of knowledge, they can be promoted only through love and not through imposition and pressure. Our opposition is not to Hindi the language, it is against forceful imposition. I, too, am opposed to the celebration of Hindi Diwas.”
Language had always been a sensitive issue in the south with Tamil Nadu’s anti-Hindi agitation of the 1960’s playing a crucial role in the growth of Dravidian parties in the state.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had opposed the draft national policy on education that called for the adoption of a three-language formula in schools — Hindi, English and the local mother tongue in non-Hindi states.
Parties across ideologies— from the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to the Left and actor Kamal Haasan’s fledgeling Makkal Needhi Maiam — slammed the report, which they saw as a precursor to the imposition of Hindi.
There have, in the past, been protests over moves to have Hindi sign boards at bus stops and railway stations with parties calling it ‘Hindi imposition’ and ‘Hindi imperialism’.
In Bengaluru, Hindi boards at Metro stations also triggered the language debate with many feeling that Hindi was being imposed on people.
Unpacking Amit Shah's Hindi Divas comment: 'Himperialism' is characteristic of BJP's empire-building ambitions
India Samrat Sep 18, 2019 11:21:44 IST
It is odd that Indian languages apart from Hindi should be chosen for sacrifice in this battle against foreign languages, but in any case, which foreign languages, in the plural, are being referred to?
Bangla, Punjabi, Tamil and Nepali are spoken in other countries, but cannot be called foreign.
The foreign language in question is obviously English, which has already found a place even in the remotest corners of India.
Joining the Dots is a weekly column by author and journalist Samrat in which he connects events to ideas, often through analysis, but occasionally through satire
***
Amit Shah’s statement on Hindi being the one necessary language for India has kicked off quite the political storm. Shah, in the course of a speech on the occasion of “Hindi Divas”, said: “Diversity of languages and dialects is strength of our nation. But there is need for our nation to have one language, so that foreign languages don’t find a place. This is why our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as Raj Bhasha”.
If “diversity of languages and dialects is strength of our nation”, then why is Shah advocating the weakening of this strength?
The answer is in the next sentence: Shah wants “foreign languages” to not find a place in India. It is odd that Indian languages apart from Hindi should be chosen for sacrifice in this battle against “foreign languages”, but in any case, which “foreign languages”, in the plural, is he referring to? Bangla, Punjabi, Tamil and Nepali are spoken in other countries, but cannot be called foreign. The foreign language in question is obviously English, which unknown to Shah has unfortunately already found a place even in the remotest corners of India. In fact, it is now the link language for the whole world. So, for example, millions of Chinese now learn English, because they want to communicate with the rest of the world. So do a lot of Japanese, Koreans, Indonesians, Thais, Germans, Swedes and others. In India, a lot of people from states such as Gujarat — which send vast numbers of emigrants to the West — are especially keen learners of English.
Unpacking Amit Shahs Hindi Divas comment: Himperialism is characteristic of BJPs empire-building ambitions
The assertion that our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as the Raj Bhasha or official language is a vast generalisation. File Photo
Shah’s assertion that our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as the Raj Bhasha or official language is also a vast generalisation. For instance, one of the rare Indian freedom fighters who literally fought for freedom, Subhas Chandra Bose, had favoured the usage of Hindustani, meaning a mix of Hindi and Urdu, in the Roman script. This avoided the clash between Hindi and Urdu, and helped him to lead a force, the Indian National Army, that had Hindu, Muslim and Sikh soldiers from across what are now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. His polar opposite in many ways, Mohandas Gandhi, who was initially a votary of Hindi, also gradually came around to supporting Hindustani.
Also Read: Hindi 'imposition' debate: Schools can play key role in promoting integration through 3-language formula
The freedom fighter who championed the idea of “Hindi Hindu Hindustan” is the original hero of the BJP and its affiliates. His name is VD Savarkar. Like hundreds of other freedom fighters (whose names no one today remembers), he was incarcerated in the Cellular Jail in the Andamans. Unlike them, he authored a series of mercy petitions pledging his loyalty to the British crown. The tales of his heroic exploits began circulating after his release from prison with the publication of a book called Life of Barrister Savarkar written in a foreign language, English, by someone under the pseudonym of Chitragupta, which happens to be the name of the assistant of Yamraj, the god of death. This Chitragupta was eventually revealed by the book’s publisher to be none other than Savarkar himself.
The idea of religious nationalism, championed by Hindu nationalists such as the atheist Savarkar on the one hand and the irreligious, unorthodox Muslim MA Jinnah on the other, eventually broke up the British Indian Empire into three pieces, and Yamraj had a busy time as a million or so people died as a direct result. Those three pieces, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, have still not really found peace with themselves or with one another. The relationship between India and Pakistan is outright hostile. The one between Bangladesh and the other two is complicated.
Internally, Bangladesh has the best chance of becoming the kind of unitary, majoritarian nation-state that the Hindutva brigade, whose ideas of the world are about a century out of date, consider the acme of modern nation-building. Pakistan, although much smaller than India, is still too big and diverse. The Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns and others resent Punjabi over-lordship. Urdu is the national language there but the native speakers of the language are the minority Mohajirs, whose status in that country is still not much better than that of refugees. Pakistan therefore suffers from tensions over identity despite being more than 95 percent Muslim.
Also read: Hindi 'imposition' debate — Schools can play key role in promoting integration through 3-language formula
In India, Hindi is not the national language, although some among those who want India to become a Hindu mirror image of Pakistan — a country with one religion and one national language — would like to make it so. This is based on ideas of ethnic nationalism and majoritarianism. However, it is a curious variety of both, and this may have something to do with the map of undivided India that they worship. The expansive maps of Bharat, similar to the one used to depict the extent of Hindi on Hindi Divas recently, include India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is an area where Abraham Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India published in 1928 had listed 179 languages and 544 dialects, although the survey was incomplete as it did not cover most of South India. Why would this vast and diverse area including South and Northeast India be shown as the territory in which Hindi was spoken?
FirstCutbyManjul17092019
The answer lies not in ideas of ethnic nationalism or majoritarianism; it lies in ideas of imperialism. The map of India that is worshipped by the Hindu nationalists is the map of the British Indian Empire. After the British left, the next set of elites inherited the empire. This was the lot decried as brown sahibs and Macaulay’s Indians by the nativists. Politically, the battle now is between this lot and the other group that has benefited most from the combination of Independence and Partition in India — the upper and intermediate caste Hindu elites from the Hindi-speaking “cow belt” of northern and western India. This group became dominant in the Indian remnants of the British Indian Empire after Partition at one stroke forever decimated Bengal and Punjab. The Punjabi Muslims inherited Pakistan, and Bangladesh went to the Bengali Muslims.
From our archives: Why Hindi isn't the national language
The attempt to convert other Indians to Hindi-speaking Hindus, preferably vegetarian, is of a piece with the ambitions of empire-building that characterise Shah and his BJP. It is evident in the desire to colour every inch of India’s map saffron, to make India opposition-mukt, and to fully integrate outliers such as Jammu and Kashmir.
When the British were ruling India, we had brown sahibs. Now the current rulers would naturally like to remake the people of this country in their own image. Shah, in his speech on Hindi Divas, mentioned that he was in Guwahati the previous week and had heard that people there were hiring private tutors to teach their children Hindi, and that the Centre had decided to teach them Hindi.
No doubt, there will be many new learners keen to cast themselves in the image of the new sahibs.
Samrat is an author, journalist and former newspaper editor. He tweets as @mrsamratx
Updated Date: Sep 18, 2019 11:21:44 IST
What RSS said about Hindi as a national language 50 years ago
The RSS, the BJP’s ideological fount, too has campaigned for promotion of Indian languages for a long time, but has been careful to avoid being seen as a campaigner to make Hindi a unifying language or according it the status of a national language.
INDIA Updated: Sep 14, 2019 19:45 IST
Smriti Kak Ramachandran
Smriti Kak Ramachandran
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Home Minister Amit Shah presents an award to author Ashok Chakradhar during the 'Hindi Divas Samaroh' in New Delhi, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019.
Home Minister Amit Shah presents an award to author Ashok Chakradhar during the 'Hindi Divas Samaroh' in New Delhi, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. (PTI)
Union home minister Amit Shah’s comment that people should increase the use of their mother tongue and also use Hindi to realise the dreams of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) and Sardar Patel has again sparked off a row over suspicions that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition intended to promote Hindi as the national language.
Though Shah had underlined that the promotion of Hindi should not come at the cost of other Indian languages, the statement did create a flutter with parties in the non-Hindi speaking states where the BJP is trying to increase its footprint. While DMK leader MK Stalin criticised the comment and said “this is India, not Hindia”, similar reactions flooded social media sites.
Incidentally, the party’s ideological fount the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) too has campaigned for promotion of Indian languages for a long time, but has been careful to avoid being seen as a campaigner to make Hindi a unifying language or according it the status of a national language.
Watch: Amit Shah’s ‘Hindi a unifier’ appeal stirs row, opposition call it ‘a bid to impose’
Amit Shah’s ‘Hindi a unifier’ appeal stirs row, opposition call it ‘a bid to impose’
Home Minister Amit Shah appealed for an increase in the use of Hindi and said that it can be a great unifier.
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In December 1957, the second sarsanghchalak of the RSS MS Golwalkar in an interview to the Organiser spelt out his stand on the question of a national language.
“I consider all our languages as national languages. They are equally our national heritage. Hindi is one among them which, by virtue of its countrywide usage, has been adopted as the State Language. It will be wrong to describe Hindi alone as the national language and others as provincial languages. That would not be seeing things in the right perspective,”Golwalkar said in the interview.
As it sets about increasing its own presence on the ground, the Sangh has been conscious of cultivating its own image as that of a pan Indian identity and not a Hindi-speaking outfit. The design to propagate Indian languages and dialects helps the Sangh creates more space for its ideology and also shatter the impression that the BJP is a Hindi-heartland phenomenon with no takers beyond the Vindhyas.
Most pracharaks or full time workers who are deputed across the country to undertake work related to the Sangh are known to be fluent in more than one Indian language. It is not uncommon to come across a Malayalam-speaking pracharak break into fluent Bangla or a Marathi-speaking pracharak having mastered Telugu.
To lend more weight to its campaign to promote Indian languages, the RSS at its annual meeting in Nagpur in 2018, passed a resolution calling for efforts to protect and conserve Indian languages and dialects.
“The declining trend in the practice and usage of Bharatiya languages, elimination of their words and replacement by words of foreign languages are emerging as a serious challenge. Today, many languages and dialects have become extinct and several others are endangered,” the resolution passed at the end of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha read.
Later while taking questions from mediapersons, a senior RSS functionary had assured that the resolution, which calls for protection of Indian languages and dialects, does not indicate the supremacy of any one language particularly Hindi nor does it oppose learning foreign languages to expand one’s knowledge.
The timing of the resolution coincided with several states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana accusing the BJP of trying to foist Hindi across the country. That fear primarily stemmed from recommendations made by Sangh affiliates such as the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, which wanted the NCERT to remove English, Urdu and Arabic words including a couplet from noted poet Mirza Ghalib from textbooks.
Over the years, RSS functionaries have been empathetic in underscoring the benefits of imparting education in the mother-tongue; even as it has all too often stressed on the mainstreaming of Sanskrit. Its affiliate the Samskrita Bharati for instance does not push for making the classical language compulsory, but easy to grasp to increase its popularity.
First Published: Sep 14, 2019 19:01 IST
India Vs Hindia: Migration from North, Job Prospects Trigger Language Equality Debates Across South
In Tamil Nadu, which has been fighting the imposition of Hindi since Independence, all political parties led by the DMK swung into action, warning the Centre against any such move.
D P Satish | dp_satishUpdated:September 18, 2019, 1:10 PM ISTfacebookTwitterskype
India Vs Hindia: Migration from North, Job Prospects Trigger Language Equality Debates Across SouthPro-Kannada organisations protest against Hindi Diwas in Bengaluru.
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Bengaluru: On September 14, to celebrate ‘World Hindi Day’, Union Home Minister and National president Amit Shah tweeted his views on making Hindi a link language in India.
Top political leaders from non-BJP parties and language activists in the south took to Twitter and Facebook to attack Shah for advocating what they called RSS’ unfulfilled dream of ‘one nation, one language’.
Even though Shah remained silent, not wanting to join the issue, his party colleagues came to his defense. Some of them were vocal in support of Hindi for all, the remaining ones were placatory assuring no harm to other major languages in India.
In Tamil Nadu, which has been fighting the imposition of Hindi since Independence, all political parties led by the DMK swung into action, warning the Centre against any such move.
Even in Karnataka, a loud protest erupted accusing the Centre of promoting Hindi hegemony at the cost of much older Indian languages. There have been murmurs of protests from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala as well.
During the 1964-65 ‘anti-Hindi’ riots, several protesters were killed in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka forcing the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to withdraw his decision to make Hindi a national language. Indira Gandhi, who was a minister in his Cabinet, had criticised the move even visited Tamil Nadu to pacify the angry and hurt people.
After that, all successive governments at the Centre kept the issue of ‘one national language’ buried, fearing a huge backlash. But the indirect promotion of Hindi continued in various forms leading to protests from time to time.
According to Kannada activists, the current anti-Hindi imposition movement is a direct response to north Indian migrants’ condescending attitude towards native languages and culture of the south. They argue that they have nothing against Hindi as a language and respect its promotion in Hindi-speaking states. They demand that the Centre promote non-Hindi languages in their respective states with the same zeal and enthusiasm.
Arun Javagal, a leading activist from Karnataka, describes it as a movement for language equality. “It is not against Hindi. It is against promoting Hindi at the cost of other major languages. In the language hierarchy, Hindi is above all other languages. The Centre is willfully doing it by using a provision in our Constitution. That should be corrected first. We are against that provision. We want language equality. All 22 languages in the 8th schedule of the Constitution should be treated equally. No more, no less. The Centre is spending our money to impose Hindi over the rest of India. We will oppose that,” he said.
Professor SG Siddaramaiah, former chairman of Kannada Development Authority (KDA), has been fighting for language equality for a long time. He said that some vested interests are trying to create a rift between Hindi speakers and non-Hindi speakers by calling it an anti-Hindi movement.
“Why is the Centre promoting Hindi over Kannada or Tamil or Bengali in states where these are state languages? What are its intentions? Why should Bengaluru Metro have sign boards in Kannada when we don’t get the same privileges in Delhi or Lucknow Metro? Do they have boards in Kannada or Tamil or Marathi?” Siddaramaiah asked.
Vasanth Shetty, a technocrat and language activist, feels that economic liberalisation has worsened the situation. “It is a fight between ‘Hindia’ and India. The Centre feels Hindi alone can represent the entire nation. India is a federal nation. It is a Union of States. The linguistic states were created to protect and promote all major languages. What the Centre is now doing is unconstitutional. If Hindi can generate jobs, why are millions from Hindi states migrating to south and west to seek jobs and educational opportunities? How many from the south and west migrate to Hindi states for jobs and education?” he asks. He punctures the arguments that Hindi opens doors of opportunities.
The Hindi speakers demand all services in Hindi in non-Hindi states, but they don’t extend the same courtesies to non-Hindi speakers in Hindi states, he says.
Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is vocal about language equality, argues that Centre should promote Hindi only in Hindi states. “The Centre should spend money on Hindi in Hindi states. Not in non-Hindi states. In our state, our language is supreme. We don’t need any national language. All Indian languages are India’s national languages. Why only Hindi?” he charges.
Those comparing Hindi with English have met with criticism across the southern states. “Their argument is, English is foreign, Hindi is Indian. So accept it across India. But the argument is baseless because the same Hindi speakers learn English. Why don’t they learn an Indian language like Kannada or Tamil or Bengali instead of English, if they expect us to learn Hindi and drop English?” language equality activists ask.
The fear of not getting central government jobs because of Hindi imposition has also led to the current crisis in the south. The examination for jobs in central government-run banks, post offices and Railways are only in English and Hindi. It gives a huge advantage to candidates whose mother tongue is Hindi over rest of the candidates whose mother tongue is not Hindi.
“They write these examinations in Hindi and get 90 per cent of the jobs all over India. Our youth don’t get jobs in our own states. The central government is the real culprit. Hindi speakers don’t even learn Kannada or Tamil. It leads to huge day-to-day problems at banks, post offices and railway stations. This is nothing but neo-colonialism. They have a colonist mindset towards our languages. That’s why we are opposing Hindi imposition. We want the central government services and examinations in our own languages. We are also Indians, aren’t we? We, the non-Hindi states, contribute over 60% income to government of India. We will never tolerate making Hindi a national language. We will fight them,” said K V Narayana Gowda, president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), a pan Karnataka pro-Kannada organization.
Similar sentiments are expressed in rest of the states in the south. The DMK chief MK Stalin has dared the Centre to make Hindi the national language, warning of serious consequences.
Terming Shah’s statement as dangerous and aimed at dividing the nation, Stalin said language diversity is the foundation of India’s unity.
Surprisingly, the BJP chief minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa has taken a strong stand against Hindi imposition. In an effort to calm the frayed nerves, he tweeted that Kannada is supreme in Karnataka and any effort to undermine it, would not be tolerated.
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