India is a union of states. When Independent India came out of the nightmare of partition of the nation, the disintegration within the nation based on language too was called for. Rather than the geographical divisions, the country was divided based on the linguistic feature.
Lately, One nation- One language principle has been widely talked about among the ruling party. With the pre-set colonial hangover, Hindi language imposition is planned as a replacement to colonial English. The conflict and agitation against the Hindi language imposition goes back to post independence era. In order to promote multilingualism and bridge the inter-state language barrier three language formula was adopted in 1968 under Kothari commission which included learning of Hindi language in South Indian/non-Hindi speaking states and learning of modern Indian language preferable South Indian language in the Hindi-speaking states. When most of the South Indian states implemented the policy, the North Indian states failed in adopting it and also bypassed the policy through Sanskrit language learning.
The Constituent Assembly of India adopted English along with Hindi in Devanagari Script as the official language of the country on September 14, 1949, under Article 343 (1). The Hindi language is one of the 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India like any other Indian languages. But the sincere efforts in showcasing Hindi as the only language of the nation has affected the linguistic emotions of South and Dravidian language speakers. Like ‘ One religion, one culture, one race and one language’ ideology of supremacy of autocratic rulers like that of Mussolini and Hitler, the British could exploit India only after bringing in English language in administration and succeeded in keeping the common man out bringing in language barrier. The one language policy will not have any role in socio-economic development of the country. Integration should not be as a result of destruction of any particular race, language or culture. Only a solid mixture of diversity with tolerance will bring out the best of integration.
Image by Siddharth Kashyap
