India is
a country of diversity without any element of doubt about it. Much has
been talked about multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-language
issues. When we look into the ‘COMMON national language’ of India as
a country, there have been many debates, arguments as well as many
protests and movements from different parts of country. ‘Language’ is
actually a part of culture that unifies the ideas & belief of
diverse people.
It
is commonly mistaken that ‘Sanskrit’ and ‘Tamil’ are close to each
other. But in reality, it is not. According to linguistics all the south
Indian languages Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam are called
‘Dravidian’ language. As far as the north Indian languages, Hindi,
Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Nepali, Oriya, etc comes under
Indo-Aryan language’. Since 60 years of Independence each
& every culture has been borrowing vocabulary from each other.
But with this sharing of faith, there has also been many major incidents
which has ruined the secular fabric of the country. Tamil Nadu riots of
early 60s are one the prominent examples of this language divide in India. When Hindi was declared the official national language, most of the South India protested
against it. The impact was of such an extent that, after the incident
no national political party like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Indian
National Congress has managed to win the hearts of voters.
There
is a lot of diversity & variation in dress codes; food habits,
festivals and especially the difference in languages are prominent among
the states. But this does not mean they are separate from each other.
According to constitution of India, the official languages of the Republic of India are Hindi and English. Article 343(1) states that “The Official Language of the Union shall
be Hindi in Devanagari script and English could be also used for
official purposes.” Constitution also states that the individual states
can legislate their own official languages, depending on their
linguistic demographics. But recent events in Maharashtra reflect
‘State Nationalism’ more than Unity of Nation, when Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena (MNS) called for all government procedures to be in
Marathi.
Article 346 states that “Official language for communication between one State and another or between a State and the Union”
is Hindi or English. National language binds the values and belief of
diverse people. The prominent example is ‘Hindi Film industry’. Most of
the well-known regional actors, Directors, or Technicians have started
working in mainstream Hindi cinema because of wide acceptance of Hindi
as a common language. The great examples like Satyajit Ray, Kamal Hasan,
Girish Karnad, A.R. Rahman & many others have earned better
acceptance and accolade because of the national platform as compared to
regional projects.
In India,
a country where language changes every few square miles, paradoxical
though it may seem, language has been a powerful factor for unifying
people since the days of the British rule. Lokamanya Tilak was perhaps
the first national leader to appreciate this conspicuous feature of the
Indian society and to advocate the reorganization of the provinces on a
linguistic basis with a view to promoting unity in diversity. – Jhumpa
Mukherjee (The Roots of Linguistic Reorganization of Indian States – The
Experience of Orissa as a Linguistic Province in the British Raj).
In
a Report made by Motilal Nehru – Nehru Committee of the All Parties
Conference made in 1928 said that the existing multilingual State and
Provinces would create political difficulties while the homogeneous
linguistic States would encourage greater political cohesion,
administrative efficiency and economic development. “If a province has
to educate itself and do its daily work through the medium of its own
language, it must necessarily be a linguistic area. Language, as a rule
corresponds with a variety of culture, of traditions, and literature. In
a linguistic area all these factors will help in the general progress
of the province” (Motilal Nehru Report, 1928).
On
contrary the other national party as against Congress, BJP has always
been support of Hindi language. But if we see the conflict in this
context, Kapil Sibal of Congress had given a statement in month of
august 2009 that, “Hindi is important to unify India”.
On the other hand Shiv Sena who has been with BJP since long time has
always fought for ‘Marathi Manoos’ and Marathi language. The vested
interests of the political parties in India have changed from time to time. Citizens of India have suffered a lot due to this confusion.
John
Stuart Mill emphasized language as a great factor in the formation of a
nation. Before him, Ficte had stated, “wherever a separate language is
found, there is also a separate nation which has the right to manage its
affairs independently and to rule itself” (Roy,
1965). It seems, it will require yet many more years to at least come to
a consensus that, ‘Is national language a unifying factor or is it
counter productive?’
