All You Need To Know About One Nation One Language
By Abhyuday Mishra
(Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla)
All You Need To Know About One Nation One Language. There is a language war is going on in our country ever since home minister Amit Shah has said that we need one language that would be our global identity obviously referring to Hindi as that language the sudden state has really pushed back and we have seen many politicians commenting on this matter we saw kamal Hasan releasing a video and claiming that our language war is at hand if this kind of Hindi imposition is done in the states. Even we have witnessed various dissent in BJP itself as newly appointed chief minister tweeted that Kannada is the primary language of the Karnataka and hence it is clear that sudden states aren’t ready for Hindi imposition and even if this is fair to expect this from them?
Background:
- The Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in Devanagari Script along with English as the official language of the country on September 14, 1949, under Article 343(1).
- Article 351 gives power to the Union Government to issue a directive for the development of the Hindi language.
- The Hindi language is one of the 22 languages of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
- The imposition of Hindi was contested in many non-Hindi states, especially in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Violent protests broke out in southern India leading the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to introduce the ‘Official Languages Act’ in 1963, which assured the continuation of English along with Hindi as the official language of the Union of India.
- Given the linguistic diversity of India, there is no national language as all the states are free to decide their own official languages.
The History of Hindi Language
Perfected or Refined:
In the beginning, there was Sanskrit, one of the most studied and important languages in history. Sanskrit is the language that the Vedas were written in, the earliest forms of the Hindu religious texts, and as such has had an incredible influence over Hindu and Indian culture throughout history. The religious texts also mean that ancient Sanskrit has been preserved for study and is still used today in some areas of India, meaning it’s one of the rare examples in the world of an ancient language we can observe and study as it is used.
Sanskrit used what is known as the Devanagari script in its written form, and gave birth to several languages that still exist today, including a language that eventually evolved into what we call Hindustani. Hindustani became one of the most prevalent languages in the region, and when the British Raj ruled India it used Hindustani as the government’s official language, which solidified its position as the national language.
Hindi and Urdu:
When India and Pakistan became separate nations, the languages known today as Urdu and Hindi were created. Urdu and Hindi are, essentially, Hindustani – the differences between them were initially more political than anything else. However, as time has gone on the differences in the languages have become more pronounced – they are still essentially the same language, but with some vital new changes.
Hindi still uses the Devanagari script it inherited from Sanskrit, for example, while Urdu uses a Persian script in its written form. Urdu has also imported a great number of Persian words into its vocabulary over the years, slowly building up a small amount of vocabulary that does not exist in the Hindi side of the divide.
This is what I find fascinating. We may be witnessing the very beginning of a language split; in centuries, Urdu and Hindi may not be mutually intelligible any more and may evolve into two truly separate languages. The opportunity to watch this develop over the years is quite awe-inspiring and humbling for this Word Nerd.
Why Hindi can’t be declared the national language?:
There are many people from southern states who know how to read and write Hindi and there are certain advantages of knowing Hindi but we can’t deny the fact that a country as large and as diverse as ours where even though a vast majority of people speak Hindi to call it a national language may prove counterproductive. It doesn’t matter which state one is living and which language one speaks one should learn both Hindi and English as English is also a language that is superimposed over other languages whether we like it or not. There may be many people who want to learn Hindi but that would be a different question in fact Hindi can emerge as a link language most of the language including Tamil has been declared a classical language so there is no need to prove anyone to consider it thrown out but in our country language has essentially became and political issue.
When you give importance to one language the other language would be overshadowed for sure and this would create a lacuna in the society. The larger number of people speak Hindi after learning it because of necessity too. 43% of people say their mother language in Hindi mostly in 12 states which makes 12 out of 35 states predominantly Hindi language.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
- Rethink the three-language policy, which exists just on paper now.
- Three-language formula envisaged by Kothari Commissionsought that, Hindi should be introduced in non-Hindi-speaking States from an early stage and the Hindi-speaking States should introduce a non-Hindi Indian language.
- However, most non-Hindi speaking States did introduce Hindi, unfortunately, the Hindi-speaking States bypassed the requirement to teach a non-Hindi language (preferably a South Indian language) through Sanskrit.
- Moreover, there are better ways to foster national unity than imposing a language.
- Creating a common market for the country, through a single, simplified tax structure.
- Fostering a single labor market.
- A united nation has to have space for diversity. India is united in its diversity. Diversity is a great philosophical idea and should never be seen as a cultural burden