Ashutosh Mishra

By Ashutosh Mishra

Bhubaneswar: Santhali, the language spoken by India’s largest tribal community spread across Odisha, Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand, found an articulate voice in the Rajya Sabha on Friday when Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member, Sarojini Hembram used it to make a point during the zero hour. This was the first time the language was spoken in the House of Elders.

That the person through whom the language debuted in the Rajya Sabha happens to be a lawmaker from Odisha should be a matter of pride for all Odias who believe in the lingual and cultural diversity of the state as well as our vast country. Hembram also appropriately used the occasion to demand Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, for Pandit Raghunath Murmu, the father of Ol Chiki script that is the foundation of Santhali language.

Odisha’s cultural diversity has a lot to do with its tribal profile. The state is home to 62 different tribal communities including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal (PVT) groups. Between them these tribal groups speak 21 languages and 74 dialects. But the dominance of Odia, Hindi and English, the languages most widely spoken, poses a threat to the tribal dialiects many of which are on the verge of extinction.

To be fair to the state government it has been doing its bit to preserve this unique linguo-cultural heritage. Among other things, it has come up with bilingual tribal dictionaries that can be used for multilingual education at the elementary level in tribal-dominated districts. The move, it is understood, is being sought to be enforced through the special development councils (SDCs) constituted for state’s nine tribal-dominated districts, namely Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Koraput, Gajapati, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri.

Like Odisha, many other states of the country have been trying to promote tribal languages and dialects spoken within their respective territories. But all such endeavours encounter the problem of over-dominance of Hindi and English apart from the vernacular language spoken by the majority—Odia in our case.

The ire of a sizeable chunk of intellectuals advocating multiplicity of languages and dialects is directed mainly at Hindi, the language spoken by the majority in the country in terms of population. There is a growing feeling in the non-Hindi speaking states, specially in the states south of the Vindhyas that there is a long term conspiracy to impose Hindi on them.

They would rather accept English as the country’s lingua franca than give in to the dominance of Hindi. In fact, Hindi vrs English debate has been going on ever-since the country became independent. It has created a divide that now seems extremely difficult to bridge. Part of the blame for this should go to Hindi chauvinists who instead of seeking to popularise the language and making it acceptable to the non-Hindi speaking masses made crude attempts at imposing it by the sheer force of majority.

No one has done more harm to Hindi and the culture diversity of this country than these self-styled crusaders of the ‘ national language.’ It is time they understood the futility of promoting a language in this manner and learnt to celebrate the varied linguo-cultural wealth of India. Santhali’s debut in the Rajya Sabha showcases this diversity and its acceptance at the highest level.

(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)

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