At the outset a basic rule must be clarified- accepting one, doesn't mean rejecting the other. Each one has its utility & its limitation as well. It is never a Zero- sum game, in case of languages. A National Language is a bridge not a gorge.
Its a bit coarse and unpolished.
The
National Language in India is widely considered to be Hindi. But some sections
in the country feel insecure about their language’s diminished status in
comparison to Hindi, since none are close to its pan India Appeal. They doubt
the title of National Language being conferred on Hindi. They are right to the
extent that Hindi is not legally termed “National Language” of India. But their
satisfaction of bringing down a great language such as Hindi ends right there,
with the legal nomenclature. This is because Hindi is legally the “official
Language” of the Union of India & states are bound by Constitution of India
to communicate outside their state in Hindi & English, both. This can be
found in solid letters of Article 343[1]
of Constitution of India. The Union of India has been given special directive by
Article 351[2] of
the constitution to develop Hindi Language as universal language of India,
while respecting regional languages. No doubt, the union of India abdicated
this duty, and for the sake of regional politics the issue is hardly debated.
At least Hindi speaking majority in India are way too tolerant about this. Even
though, to pacify the minority linguists of Composite Indian culture, English
(a totally foreign language imposed by colonials) was/ is also being used as
the other official language of India.
One mustn’t
forget that the issue of Hindi as official language was hotly debated in our
constituent assembly and still passed its scrutiny and all of the members
including members preferring regional languages did sign the same constitution.
We mustn’t also lose sight of the fact that the Hindi speaking population was
less represented in constituent assembly as is the case with present day
parliament. Though completely undemocratic, the delimitation of constituencies
is also to appease regional linguist. It’s a bitter reality, not an argument. In
simple words, the Hindi speaking populace is far less represented in the parliament
than non- Hindi speaking ones, by following half a century old population
figures even though we are sitting on at least 5 fresher census figures.
Also, anyone having further doubts should go
and read a two- page constitutional law, The Official Languages Act, 1963[3],
which would clear every misconception. If at all, a state enacts a law in
regional language (it doesn’t practically happen), the authoritative text in
Hindi has to be provided. No parliamentary law in India would be enacted
without authoritative translation in Hindi. The same is the case with original
constitution & all the amendments thereafter. So, the regional linguists
must go figure how will they know the law of the land in solely based on their
own regional language? The translation in regional language, if any, would
merely translate to an unceremonious reading. Nothing authoritative about it. Therefore,
it is for the ignorant mass to decide whether to prefer English as their
official language or Hindi. History & Common-sense dictates that anything
closer to one’s culture of Country has a better chance of being called the “National
Language”. But the times we live in is often dominated by leaders whose
knowledge reeks of social media generated nonsense, the common sense won’t
appeal. Another word of advice to the minority linguists is that, the Phrase
“official language” is used in Constitution instead of National Language,
because English has also been given similar status & it must have been a
shameful job for Indian Freedom Fighters to draft a constitution right out of
british imperialism, and yet recognize their imposed foreign language as
“National”. Why aren’t Indians ashamed of this duplicity/ dichotomy imposed on
Indian independence by extremely narrow mindset of minority linguists? It’s
appalling to say the least. Only when I pause and think about these provisions
in the constitution, I find it to be a masterstroke of legal drafting in camouflaging
a stupid compromise on National Integration. I would only pose one unanswerable
question to those narrow minds- was there any other Indian language other than
Hindi which could have served as a National/ official language, thereby united
India as one National System at the time? Did we even have an Option? Or do we
have it even Now? Or perhaps these minority linguists would prefer non- verbal
communication?? To help them, I would give them the only alternative system-
either the imperial one under british for which we apparently fought together
or the hundreds of princely states which preceded it. I am compelled to observe
that it is just the negative attitude of minority linguists for which the
Official (Truly National) Language has had to suffer.
Just look around India. For Common Indian folks,
there is hardly anything more national in character than Bollywood? Take a
hint- the language commoners prefer, before & after independence. The irony
is, that Bollywood is itself not set up in a Hindi speaking state. Even in
states where regional languages dominate, the Bollywood movies are watched
mostly in Hindi itself. It is a uniting factor, is my un- subtle point.
Summing up- Hindi is not a National Language of
India, but an official Language; Just as our topmost constitutional court is
called Supreme Court of India & not “National Court” or “Apex Court” of
India.
Being fair to minority linguists, I have not
dealt with ‘natural’ arguments thrown around to justify trivializing Hindi,
since they are widely based fear of their language being persecuted, other than
being merely emotionally charged. History stands witness that in India, Hindi
speaking populace has never persecuted people on basis of tongue they speak. Strangely,
opposite is true. There are other provisions referring to official language in
Constitution, I have not dealt with now- interesting though, they do not
pertain to the current post.
[1] PART XVII - OFFICIAL
LANGUAGE- CHAPTER I.- LANGUAGE OF THE UNION
343.
Official language of the Union- (1) The official language of the Union shall be
Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official
purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals.
[2] CHAPTER
IV.-SPECIAL DIRECTIVES
351. Directive for development of the Hindi language- It shall be the
duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so
that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the
composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without
interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani
and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by
drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on
Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.
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