Fear of ‘Hindi imperialism’ triggers mega language war

There is always a trigger. In this case, it was Hindi film actor Ajay Devgn. Hindi was, is, and will always be our mother tongue and national language, he said while responding to a Kannada actor who pointed out at a recent event that Hindi is not the national language.

Sudeep Sanjeev, aka Kichha Sudeep, was reportedly speaking to the media at the trailer launch of the film R: The Deadliest Gangster Ever when he corrected someone on the use of the term “pan-India” regarding the reach of movies.

Responding to a comment on the recently released blockbuster Kannada movie K.G.F.: Chapter 2, which has done tremendously well even in north India, Sudeep said, “Everyone says that a Kannada film was made on a pan-India level but a small correction is that Hindi is not a national language anymore.”

So, a few questions arise: Is Hindi our national language? Should Hindi be the lingua franca of India? Why is there a pushback to Hindi becoming the link language?

The answer to these questions define not only what is going on but what lies ahead. So, here goes: Hindi is not our national language technically or legally. Hindi could be the lingua franca as India has seen tremendous change culturally and linguistically with much wider acceptance and usage of Hindi. There is a pushback because large parts of southern India feel this move to establish Hindi as link language is a political sleight of hand.

Besides the above, there is also a thing called timing. The debate on Hindi imposition exploded recently after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Hindi, and not local languages, should be accepted as an alternative to English. Opposition parties slammed the remark, calling it an assault on India’s pluralism and asserting they would thwart the move to impose “Hindi imperialism”.

***

Also Read

***

Hindi as a link language proposed by Amit Shah has triggered a new controversy. Shah’s reasoning — when citizens of states who speak other languages communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India. Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not as an alternative to local languages.

This logic should soothe ruffled feathers. Shah, who is the chairman of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, informed members that 70 per cent of the agenda of the Union Cabinet was now prepared in Hindi.

Against this backdrop of simmering discontent, Kichha Sudeep took a dig at the Hindi film industry. Bollywood produces many pan-India movies that are released in Telugu and Tamil, but struggle to find success on the same scale. “Today we are making films that are going everywhere,” he said.

Reacting to the comment, Ajay Devgn tagged the Kannada actor on Twitter and asked him why he releases Hindi dubbed versions of movies made in his mother tongue.

Sudeep then responded to Devgn’s counter, claiming he made the remark in a different context than how it reached him, and that it wasn’t to “hurt, provoke or to start any debate”. Making amends in the next tweet, the Kannada actor said he “loves and respects” every language of our country and said he hopes to see him soon.

But again there is a catch. Ajay Devgn is possibly incensed that film after film from the South are becoming blockbusters in the Hindi belt. They are dubbed in Hindi. And accepted by the viewers. It also eliminates the chance of making. Hindi version of a southern hit film.

A case in point is Allu Arjun’s Pushpa, which became a huge hit. His mannerisms were copied by cricketers and criminals alike. The movie, per se, is more like the 1980s potboilers made by Manmohan Desai.

In contrast, Hindi movies are not performing all that well in cross territories. Salman Khan had voiced similar concern. A quick answer to that problem could be poor Hindi scripts, stale stories and a line-up of superstars past their shelf life. Even their stock delivery makes one wince.

Politicians have a nose for such topics. They love to dive in to signal to their electorate that all is well. Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai supported Sudeep.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah beat the same drum. Perhaps, even louder. “Hindi was never and will never be our national language. It is the duty of every Indian to respect the linguistic diversity of our country,” he said.

There is another angle yet. Ajay Devgn is among a few other actors in the Hindi film industry who now regularly feature in movies that evoke nationalism and patriotism. He has in the past campaigned for the ruling BJP in Bihar and has also supported the demonetisation move. Hence the charge against him of pushing the BJP agenda, like Akshay Kumar.

Debate around Hindi as the national language or the lingua franca of the country has been on for long. As far back as 1937, there were violent protests in Madras (Tamil Nadu) when the Congress tried to make Hindi compulsory. Another agitation took place in 1965 when students led processions and there was a spate of self-immolations.

From 1946 to 1950, there were sporadic agitations against Hindi by the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) and Periyar. Whenever the government introduced Hindi as a compulsory language in schools, anti-Hindi protests erupted and succeeded in stopping the move.

The largest anti-Hindi imposition agitations in this period occurred from 1948 to 1950. After India’s Independence in 1947, the Congress government at the Centre urged all states to make Hindi compulsory in schools.

Eventually, the government made Hindi teaching optional in 1950. Students who did not want to learn Hindi were allowed to participate in other school activities during Hindi classes.

In 1987, anti-Hindi protests led to violence, demonstrations and arrests of over 20,000 people. Politicians were suspended from the state legislature for burning the Constitution that confers official status on Hindi.

After Independence, the Constitution makers had a problem selecting a national language which could unite a country because there were more than 1,600 languages spoken.

It is undeniable that Hindi is powerful: 54 percent of Indians speak Hindi. According to the 2001 Census, 52 crore out of 121 crore people identified Hindi as their language. About 32 crore people declared Hindi as their mother tongue. Hindi is the spoken language for around 44 percent Indians and mother tongue of over 25 percent people in India.

Therefore, the power of Hindi cannot be devalued whether it qualifies as a national language or not.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

The author is CEO of nnis_. The views expressed are personal._

Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .