IMPOSITION OF HINDI.

 

By K P PASWAN.

With the advent of electronics media and spread of internet, some of the self-declared intellectuals and power-hungry politicians in India are finding these electronic medias and newspapers as effective medium to spread misinformation regarding imposition of Hindi upon unwilling people of south India.

 India is an open democracy and the freedom of speech is being used as a fundamental right by certain groups to defame their opponents. They are spreading false propaganda in connivance with corrupt politicians just to remain in limelight. One of such propaganda is imposition of Hindi language upon unwilling population. They are advocating English as a national language and declaring all the 22languages mentioned in the 6^th schedule of Indian constitution as the official languages. We do not stop here, one of comedians from south India is advocating to declare India as union of Nations. There was a League Of Nation and now we have united Nations Organisation we are yet to hear Union Of Nations, even EU cannot be called as Union of Nation even though members tates have surrendered some sovereignty to Brussels. A few writers have declared that a particular language is the oldest language of India, quoting some unknown sources which can never be verified by independent agency. A few writers are linking Dravidian race with the people of Indus Valley Civilization.

I see no reasons why a student living in a remote village in Tamilnadu is forced to learn Hindi, learning of which is not going to help him even in remote future. But this is not the real story.

 Here we take the issue of imposition of Hindi in South India in general and Tamilnadu in particular. If you are impartial and neutral in assessing the culture of others than you must acknowledge that Tamil is actually a unique language but unfortunately only confined to Tamilnadu. A large number of people have migrated to Malaysia and these people are contributing to the economy growth of an Islamic country while maintaining their separate identity. We have Tamils in SriLanka but there is nothing unique in their culture. We also see migration of Tamils in US where they speak Tamil in their homes and speak in English at the place of their works.

 There are more than half a million Hindi speaking people in US with excellent knowledge of English. US is not accusing India of imposing Hindi.

  Tamilnadu has produced great poets and philosophers who are not known in Hindi belts, the reasons, no body took any step in propagating their wonderful ideas in other parts of the country. Most corrupt finance minister of India was in the habit of quoting passages from the writings of a famous Tamil scholar of ancient time.  From his budget speech in parliament the nation came to know the existence of such a great thinker.

But in present days it has become a fashion of a few intellectuals who may be called linguistic chauvinist to denounce the propagation of Hindi, a language widely spoken and understood in major parts of India.

A good scientific theory and for that matter any systematic study of any serious subject is defined as theory which can be falsified. Some of these chauvinists are publishing articles related to origin of language and race which can never be falsified. So the emergence of new theory is virtually impossible. It is so because that every new theory or research is better than previous theory or research. 

In the case of Hindi, its origin is shrouded in mystery like the origin of our universe. Hindi is not the mother language of any particular state, it is following the scientific theory of evolution and selection. It is for this reasons that this language is flourishing without being imposed.  Rajiv Gandhi, a popular political leader was brutally assassinated because he was opposing the formation of a separate state for Tamil speaking people in Sri Lanka. He was not preaching Hindi but a fanatic Catholic and his suicide squad killed the young leader and supporters of his assassins are now in power. One of such comedians has coined the words India is a country of nations which means every citizen of such country must acquire passport to visit his next neighbor.

ORIGIN OF HINDI.  No scholars worth the name have mentioned the source of this language. It is believed that Hindi began to evolve with the decline of Prakrit and Pali which were language of learning during the period when Buddhism was spreading throughout South east Asia, but these are  mere conjectures and not final findings. Despite of its similarity with Urdu, Hindi does not owe its origin to Urdu.

  During the early periods of Islamic rule people of northern India had hundreds of local dialects and these combined to form a language which was destined to evolve as the language of majority of the people. Even in modern India every households in Hindi belt like UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, New Delhi and even in Punjab people in their homes speak in different dialects, when they speak the same dialects in a particular style known as Khadi Boli it becomes Hindi.  

 After independence constitutional assembly discussed the issue of national language. As the country was divided on the basis of languages, it was essential to elevate a language and accept it as national language. English was the language of the elites in major parts of India. Troubles started when Tamilnadu opposed Hindi and demanded English as the language or the language of communication, little knowing that low literacy rate in India precluded such type of ridiculous suggestion. There were violent protests in Tamilnadu and in some other parts of South India. But they failed in their attempts to ostracize Hindi which enjoys the status of official language. There is no doubt that English is widely spoken with different ascent in different countries of the but few countries have declared English as the national language.

 In near future Hindi is likely to become one of the official languages of the United Nation and there is not likely of opposition from any member state of UNO.

ENGLISH IN HINDI BELT.

 After 20000, there is widespread expansion of English and it is not exaggeration to state that now the percentage of English-speaking people is more in Hindi belt than in states opposed to Hindi. But these English lovers of Hindi belt never speak in English to a Tamil in New Delhi They use English as an effective tool to crack UPSC, IIT and other competitive examination. In 2017, 53 students from a Hindi speaking state qualified for central services, seventeen   seventeen for Foreign services and IAS and rest for Group A services. What is surprising is that every young officer chose English as medium of writing and most of them belonged to rural areas. This north Indian state is famous for three industries (1) Boot legging (2) Kidnapping and (3) extortion.

THREE LANGUAGES FORMULA.

If this formula is sincerely implemented than Hindi speaking people will definitely pick up Bangla as the third language which is neither difficult to write or speak. Nearly fifty lakhs Hind speaking people live in and around Kolkata, they speak Bangla and has contributed to the economic growth of this great city.

Widespread unemployment prevails in Hindi belt forcing a large number of people to migrate to southern states which are more developed states. These workers cannot communicate with natives either in Hindi or English. Intermixing of these people is beneficial to Hindi and also to the language of their employers. These unskilled workers during their annual visit to their homes in Northern spread the culture of Southern states.

FINAL THOUGHT.

 Stiff opposition to Hindi in South India has contributed to the spread of Hindi. Some of the best Hindi movies were produced in Tamilnadu. A particular Chief Minister of Tamilnadu was so efficient in Hindi that a senipr diplomat still maintains that she was like Narsingh Rao who as a PM of India generally interacted with people in Hindi.