Language Controversy

Recently I read a blog named “Any Excuse to Write” by Smita. The title was “Selective Freedom?”. It dealt with the use of languages in the Indian Parliament. I wrote a comment that the whole language controversy in India was created by politicians. I also mentioned that I would write my own blog on this subject. Smita asked me to go ahead, so here is the blog.

Before reading this please remember I am describing below the situation in 1950s and 1960s. Things have changed a lot since then.

The language issue in India, was created and has been orchestrated since 1950 by politicians from Hindi speaking states and Tamilnadu.

The Constitution of India came into effect on January 26, 1950. It says “the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. However, for the next 15 years English shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union”. This was the first mistake by the writers of the Indian Constitution. If they had said in the Constitution that Hindi will be THE official language of India (and do not say anything about English) there would be no problem. Some minor protests here and there and that would be the end of it.

Now let’s fast forward to 1965. It’s time to amend the Constitution to eliminate English. The DMK party went into full swing opposing the removal of English. In 1964 and 1965, the DMK’s leader Mr. Karunanidhi organized a massive protest movement in Tamilnadu. He organized statewide demonstrations, protests, and strikes by students. The students included kids from kindergarten to post graduate. 5 year old kids sat in the scorching sun, as protestors, for the whole day without even knowing why they are sitting in the sun. In addition, all Hindi signs from railway stations and post offices were removed. The police came into action and more than 500 students died in the hands of the police..

There were organized public meetings every day and they spoke in an uncivilized manner about Hindi language, Congress Party, and the leaders from Hindi speaking states. Here is a sample:

“Hindi language has got only 2 literatures. One is Ramayan by Tulsidas and and another one is All India Railway Time Table”.

Mr. Shastri was the Prime Minister at that time. He decided against the use of Hindi only as the official language of the government, and India has since continued a policy of conducting its business in English as well as in Hindi.

How about the other states? Non-Hindi speaking Northern States have no objection except a little objection by the Bengalis. Since most of the north Indian languages come from Sanskrit, Hindi was not a big problem for them. However, all the South Indian languages come from Tamil. But in other South Indian States, there were no political leader who wanted to manipulate people for personal gain.

Even today, some fanatical Tamil zealots are proud to say in public meetings that both Sanskrit and Tamil are root languages, but Sanskrit is a dead language. It is not spoken in homes and streets. Whereas Tamil is still spoken by millions of people around the world. Therefore, Tamil is a better language than Sanskrit. Only in Tamilnadu, speaking is a profitable business.

Bingo! In 1967 DMK came to power in Tamilnadu. Mr. Annadurai was the Chief Minister and he later died in 1969 and then Mr. Karunanidhi came to power.

What was the role of the leaders from Hindi speaking states back then? They were extremely chauvinistic about Hindi. They wanted to wipe out all the other languages from India. They thought if you are not a Hindian then you are not a Indian. Some leaders believed India means only “North” India. This helped the DMK guys to popularize their favorite slogan. Vadakku Vaazhkiradhu Therku Theikiradhu (North Lives South Erodes). When anti-Hindi agitation was spreading in Tamilnadu, one North Indian leader even made a hilarious statement. He said: South Indians, especially Tamil speaking people, are “born intelligent”. Therefore, they will be proficient in Hindi in no time. What a joke that is! There is no such thing as Tamil speaking people being “born intelligent.” Even if a 10 year old child in Tamilnadu learns Hindi and is proficient, that child will be no match in Hindi language skills of a 10 year old child in UP, whose mother tongue is Hindi.

There was a lot of misunderstandings. The then Government and political parties and leaders did nothing about it. People in the North have never heard of problems faced by Tamils in Burma and Sri Lanka. People in the South never cared about Kashmir problem. To the North Indians, all South Indians are Madarasis…No Malayali, No Kannadiga, No Andhrite. To the South Indians, all North Indians are Hindikaaran (person who speaks Hindi). No Punjabi, No Gujrati, No Bengali.

In this context, let’s say that all your life you are speaking one language and all of a sudden you must learn Cantonese for reading writing, speaking, and comprehension. Also, it’s used on TV, radio, newspapers, school, and work…you will have a very difficult time adapting no matter how intelligent you are. Also, when it comes time for measuring performance and success in school and at work how will you compete with a native Cantonese speaker. You are at a disadvantage from the start…even if you are born more intelligent than your Cantonese counterpart. Of course in 3 or 4 generations everything will even out, however what do you do about the inequity for the HERE and NOW?

Another mistake was made by the Congress government in the Center. They never developed tourism for South India in the 50s and 60s. If there were opportunities for people to mix and mingle, there would have been far less misunderstanding. If 100 South Indians visited North India in a day, there were only 3 North Indians visiting the South. One of the 3 was probably an Army soldier. The other one was an old person making a pilgrimage to Sri Rangam and Rameshwaram.

What was the role of the DMK leaders in Tamilnadu? They never cared for the people in Tamilnadu. All they wanted to do was seize power in Tamilnadu and they found the perfect platform to use. The Hindi agitation helped DMK come to power for the first time in 1967. Students who listened to the politicians, and hated Hindi, never learned that language and missed out on all of the opportunities that Hindi would have provided them. And of course, nobody cared for the many students who died during the Hindi agitation.

Fast forward to the present. After the 2004 Parliamentary elections, Mr. Karunanidhi came to Delhi and personally recommended a cabinet post for his grand nephew, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran. Mr. Maran was a newcomer to politics. One reporter asked Mr. Karunanidhi “what qualification does Mr. Maran have to become a cabinet minister?”

Mr. Karunanidhi replied: Mr. Maran can speak Hindi very well.

Different yardstick when it comes to own family.

It is high time we rise above petty politics and learn to change and accept other languages and cultures, without abandoning our own.