Not the only national language

The Union Home Ministry’s directive to give priority to Hindi in social media and official communications has mala fide intentions. The eighth schedule to the Constitution recognises 22 languages. Giving priority to Hindi is tantamount to undermining the regional languages, including the four rich southern classical languages. In 1965, when the Lal Bahadur Shastri government declared Hindi as the official language, it led to massive anti-Hindi agitations and riots in Tamil Nadu and the eastern states, forcing the centre to accept Hindi and English as official languages for purpose of communication.  The three-language formula adopted in the 1950s was not honoured, resulting in most of the states opting for regional languages as the medium of instruction in schools and colleges, neglecting Hindi and English. This has done irreparable damage to the vernacular medium students in the employment market. Now the Hindi-speaking people want to impose Hindi on the rest of India, because they do not want to learn English. This is strange, considering the fact that English is lingua franca at the international level and the social networking media. The realisation of the importance of English has made the French and the Chinese governments to promote English in a big way.  And we in India want to reduce its importance. In the name of national language, the centre is dividing the people into pro-Hindi and anti-Hindi groups – the north vs south. What is the rationale in having Hindi as the official language, when we are a multi-linguistic country with so many languages and hundreds of dialects? Let the Modi government concentrate on economic growth and development, as promised during the elections, instead.

G Ramachandram

I found this in the letters section of the freepressjournal.in.

well said, G. Ramachandran.Egos and emotions are getting in the way of an efficient tool which facilitates communication. Communication brings about consensus and with it the greater good.

It seems to me that a language that is enforced is no longer serving its function of communicating, except within the boundaries of its closed society. India is an integral part of a network of societies and cultures that are increasingly using english to communicate with each other. BJP and BigMo, you ought not to worry. You have folks who can make english dance to the tune they are calling. Presumably You, BigMo, and you, BJP, are  the ones writing the music, in whichever language you choose. But, if need the rest of us to understand you, english seems like the low-impact choice