Amit Kushari IAS Retd
The agitation by IAS aspirants against the UPSC for giving importance to the English language vis a vis Hindi is an issue of great importance which has the potential to shake the foundations of India’s nationhood if not tackled in a deft tactful way. The Modi Govt.is more likely to commit mistakes on this issue because it has an intrinsic weakness compared to erstwhile UPA Govts. This statement may sound odd because BJP has full majority in the Lok Sabha and NDA has 335 seats. UPA was never so strong in numbers except in the Rajiv- Indira era. The IAS aspirants are demanding that the pride of place be given to Hindi and not to English, which is a foreign language. At first sight, it may appear to any nationalist Indian “What is wrong with this demand? After all Hindi is our National language.”A little bit of deep thinking will make clear the absurdity of this demand. The biggest strength of English is not that it is an international language, a language of science and technology or a language of business and industry. The biggest strength is that English unites the educated classes from every nook and corner of India, it is equally difficult to learn for every Indian from every corner. It is thus a great equaliser/ leveller….which Hindi certainly isn’t. Hindi, undoubtedly unites 60% of India (Punjab, J& k, Maharashtra gujerat and Goa and all the Hindi speaking states) but it does not unite 35% of India (coastal India)….Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam and 5% of India living in tribal areas of N E India. Sanskrit language unites 90% of India but even that has little resonance in Tamil Nadu, (7% of India and 3% tribal India) . The Hindu religion philosophy and mythology which are mighty uniting forces of India also cover only 85%. It is only this foreign international language, English, which unites 100% of Indians who matter (leaving aside the illiterate masses, who hardly have any say except pressing the EVM buttons). The importance of English should never be under estimated, and Hindi can never dislodge English. Why Hindi, even the sacred language of India, Sanskrit could never have dislodged it from its pride of place.
The main weakness of the Modi govt. is that out of the 335 seats it won, 305 are from ‘Hindia’ and only 30 are from coastal India — thanks to one ally, Telugu Desam and faithfuls from Karnataka and Assam and Arunachal, Darjeeling and Asansol. Darjeeling and Asansol are also almost from ‘Hindia’ geographically. Another disadvantage of the Modi govt. is that it has almost nil support (9%?) from non-Hindus. It won this comfortable majority in Lok Sabha only because of heavy voting in this ‘Hindia’ belt.
This Govt. is, therefore, more likely to fall into the trap laid by the Hindi speaking students. If the govt. reduces the importance of English it will commit a huge blunder, although appeasing its voters. Asimilar situation was faced by Pakistan in the period 1947-71, when there was a huge tussle between west Pakistan (Urdustan – comparable to our ‘Hindia’) and East Pakistan (Bangladesh – comparable to our coastal India).The tussle in Pakistan started with a similar students’ agitation in 1956 which ultimately led to the bifurcation of Pakistan. The Pakistan govt. tackled the situation tactlessly, giving primacy to Urdu which led to a catastrophe. I hope the Modi govt. will not make any such mistake and will not give any primacy to Hindi. It may cause a revolt in coastal India and India may break into ‘Hindia’ and ten other small countries of coastal India. India is our dear motherland and we will not like it to break up into small pieces. Hindi and other important regional languages of southern and eastern India must be shown perfect equality and English should be the first among equals…at least for twenty years more.
(The author is former Financial Commissioner Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com)
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