Those fighting need to realise that these are losing battles, which may yield temporary political dividend but cannot be sustained beyond a point
Language ‘wars’ are back on the national agenda and how. Linguistic chauvinism has always been a political weapon, only now it has resurfaced in a manner that only exposes the underlying hypocrisies and narrow political agendas of leaders who seek to divert attention from the real issues of our times.
Let us start with the Union Home Minister. Amit Shah’s grievances against English are rooted in the Sangh Parivar’s Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan belief system, a belief that views English as being a colonial language antithetical to ‘Indian culture’. Ironically, Shah enrolled for a bio-chemistry course in St Xavier’s College in Ahmedabad, widely considered an English elite institution in the city. He later shifted to the C U Shah Science College in the city. His son, Jay Shah, now the chairman of International Cricket Council – the apex body of the original sport of the Empire –studied at Loyola Hall in Ahmedabad, another of the city’s much sought after English medium schools.
And yet, Home Minister Shah has never hidden his disdain for English. Senior Ahmedabad-based journalist Rajiv Shah relates an interesting story. Rajiv who worked with The Times of India was once told by Shah, then a minister in the Gujarat government, that he did not read the country’s leading newspaper because it was an English daily. Months later, during an election campaign, Shah spotted Rajiv at a rally and objected to a news item in The Times of India. The journalist asked the minister, “How do you know of this news item when you say you don’t read an English paper.” “I don’t read your paper but there are many others who tell me what appears in it!” was the minister’s sharp response.
Like Shah, the Thackerays too have sent their children to English medium schools. Nor have they stopped speaking or giving interviews in Hindi. And yet, their politics revolves around a ‘Marathi-first’ agenda, if only to establish a distinctive identity in a crowded political marketplace. If for Shah, the ‘Hindi-centric’ worldview is designed to position the BJP as a ‘nationalistic’ force taking on an elite Nehruvian Congress, for the Thackerays, rekindling the language issue is an attempt to revive the ‘sons of the soil’ movement that was Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s original pitch. And while the Sena chieftain may have spewed fire on non-Marathi speakers, his first job as a cartoonist was with the English daily, Free Press Journal. Today, when the Sena has split wide open and is facing an existential crisis, the Gen-next Thackerays are seeking a reunion of sorts under the garb of linguistic pride.
For Chief Minister M K Stalin too, raising the bogie of Hindi being ‘imposed’ on the people of Tamil Nadu is a familiar political weapon ahead of a big election year in the state. The rise of the Dravidian parties in the 1960s revolved around the strident anti-Hindi agitations meant to refurbish a resilient Dravidian culture. Six decades later, by claiming that the New Education Policy’s three-language formula is another attempt to force Hindi on Tamil-speaking citizens, the DMK chief minister is re-igniting a north versus south battle to consolidate his position as a flag-bearer of regional identity. And while espousing a ‘Tamil-first’ war-cry, the fact is that the next-generation of the DMK’s first family is sending their children to study in foreign universities. Not to forget that the most private schools in Chennai are inclined to offer a three-language syllabus, including Hindi as an option.
Politicians who rail against English from old-style socialist Lohia-ties to Hindutvawaadis to regional warriors, all choose to send their kin to English-language schools. Amit Shah can rant against English but he only needs to do a survey of his own union cabinet colleagues to find out how many of them, if any, have chosen to send their children to a Hindi or regional language medium school. At least half a dozen cabinet ministers have their children studying in prestigious foreign universities.
English is no longer seen as a colonial relic but a language of aspiration and ambition. Travel to any corner of the country and witness the rapid expansion of English language coaching classes, all aimed at providing a ‘new’ India a chance to climb up the social ladder. Far from being ‘ashamed’ of speaking English, most young Indians seek to excel at it. Sadly, it is the quality of English teaching that leaves a lot to be desired in several parts of the country, one reason why Gujarat for example has lost out in the soft skills driven service industry.
Interestingly, Hindi too is now a language of growth and ambition in many corners of India. Just look at the success of so many films made in the South but becoming blockbuster Hindi film releases. The traditional north-south divide is rapidly disappearing on the big screen as it is indeed on the other great Indian theatre of dreams, the cricket field too: who would have thought at the turn of the century that Ranchi-born, Hindi-speaking Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be the ultimate Chennai hero.
Mumbai too is now less of a Maharashtrian city than ever in the past: Hindi is not just the language of its famed film industry but also the street language of livelihoods, nurtured uniquely by waves of North Indian migration and assimilation. The Bombay versus Mumbai versus Bambai debate has hollowed out, a buzzing cosmopolitanism replacing any real angst over language divides. Yes, pride in local language still matters but it no longer needs one language to be pitted against another.
(Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author.)
Linguistic diversity is India’s strength, being multi-lingual a competitive advantage. Politicians who have run out of ideas may seek refuge in linguistic chauvinism, most young Indians are job-seekers not language zealots.
