National Language War: Time For A Rethink On Language-Integrated India

The proposal for Hindi to be one of the measures for national integration is flawed because it seeks to fight a non-existent problem and also undermines the very idea of India.

National Language War: Time For A Rethink On Language-Integrated India

Every now and then, the discourse on making Hindi the national language props up on Indian media. Over the past few days, this debate was re-ignited by popular Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn, who proclaimed in a tweet that “Hindi was, is and always will be our mother tongue and national language.” The conscientious netizens as well as many in the mainstream media quickly pointed out the obvious factual inaccuracy. However, the sentiment shared by Mr Devgn is, unfortunately, not an unpopular one among the “Hindi-belt”. 

Just around a month ago, Home Minister Amit Shah had advocated for Hindi to become the “national link language”, suggesting residents from non-Hindi states to communicate in Hindi instead of English. Sanjay Nishad, a minister serving in Yogi Adityanath’s Cabinet, bluntly declared “Those who want to live in India should love Hindi. If you do not love Hindi, it will be assumed that you are a foreigner or are linked to foreign powers.”