Click to play videoA day after Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi was slapped by MNS members in the Maharashtra Assembly for taking the oath in Hindi, his Mumbai store was stoned by the Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar says parties like the MNS should be banned.
Anti-Hindi sentiments have had a long history in India and regional language activists opposed to Hindi exist in almost every Indian state. But the preeminence of Hindi is being challenged whereas English is seen as aspirational.
And that brings us to the question of the day that was asked on CNN-IBN show: Is Hindi acceptable to all Indians as the national language?
On the panel of experts to debate the issue were DMK MP MK Kanimozhi, MP and SP leader Virendra Bhatia, actor Darshan V Jariwalla and CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai.
BREAKING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
Opening the debate, DMK's Kanimozhi whose party has vociferously defended Tamil language and has been in the forefront of anti-Hindi agitations said, "I definitely think that people's representatives should be able to speak the language of the state. But nobody can accept what happened in the Maharashtra Assembly simply because one cannot take law into their hands."
Speaking about the anti-Hindi agitation that has been on since 1930s in Tamil Nadu, she added, "DMK is not against the Hindi language. We are against imposing a language on the state. DMK's stand is that there are so many other languages and hence there should be more official languages of the country. I can't speak Hindi but I am no less an Indian than anybody else."
In South India, English is a much more unifying factor than Hindi. While in the north it has been seen that parties like the Samajwadi party have an anti-English, pro-Hindi stand.
"We are not opposed to any regional language," SP leader Virendra Bhatia said.
"But we are against imposing English on us. English is spoken by only 8 per cent of people in India while Hindi is the language of communication used by more than 50 per cent Indians. English is the language of the elite class. Regional languages are more important," he added.
Then why did SP leader Abu Azmi, who was elected in Maharashtra, not take his oath in Marathi?
To which Bhatia said, "If there is a provision in the Constitution to take oath in Hindi and other languages then why this opposition? I am against forcing anybody to take oath in a particular language."
LANGUAGE IMPERIALISM
Actor Darshan V Jariwalla said that when he speaks Marathi no one can tell that he is a Gujarati. "I am not against Hindi but yes the pre-dominance of Hindi has been a topic of debate for years. We are a plural society and so we must have as many languages as possible," he said.
Rajdeep Sardesai explained the essence of Mumbai. "Mumbai has always been a city of multi-lingual identity," he said.
"The arrival of Hindi in Mumbai as a dominant language on the street as been in the last 20 years because of the migration that has come from UP and Bihar. However, Hindi is not alien. Bollywood has existed for years. In fact it was Raj Thackeray who got Michael Jackson to Mumbai a decade ago. English is seen as aspirational. All the MNS leaders send their children to English medium schools. So this language war is just a political battle. Forty years ago Bal Thackeray had waged a war against Tamilians, now the battle is with the Hindi-speaking migrants," he reasoned.
Has an MLA in Tamil Nadu Assembly taken an oath in Hindi?
"There have been instances when people have taken oath in English and recently an MLA spoke in Telugu. The point is if any language is imposed in a state then that will be opposed," Kanimozhi said.
She also explained that South Indians don't feel threatened by Hindi. "But it is not right to impose something without the acceptance of the state and its people. People have chosen to learn English. It has not been imposed."
There is a certain Hindi imperialism that goes with those who speak the language. This has been resisted by a large section of the country.
"If a Tamilian can learn English then why not Hindi? We are not opposed to Tamil. Recently an MP spoke in Tamil in the Rajya Sabha and nobody had a problem. Infact we welcomed it," Bhatia said.
Not impressed with Bhatia's argument, Kanimozhi asked, "How many people from the North know even one South Indian language? Tamil is an official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore then what is the problem in India?"
However, reiterating the Samajwadi Party line Bhatia said, "It has been a stand in SP that every Indian should know a regional language along with Hindi."
But if that is the case then why doesn't Abu Azmi learn Marathi? He has been in Maharashtra for the last 30 years. Is he playing the Hindi card in Mumbai to safeguard the SP votebank?
But Bhatia argued saying, "So many MLAs have taken oath in Hindi in Maharashtra Assembly earlier. Then why is it a problem today?"
MOTHER TONGUE MORE IMPORTANT?
Jariwalla gave an example of the Gujarati community. He said, "They are traders and so whichever state they go to, the first thing they do is learn the local language."
Taking Jariwalla's thoughts further, Kanimozhi said, "There should be an acceptance of our rich tradition and diversity. We have to make an effort to understand each other and communicate. Respect for sentiments is important to reach out to each other."
The panelists agreed that if Raj Thackeray wants to protect the Marathi language then he should do more constructive things. Marathi schools and libraries are in a bad shape and that is where he needs to focus on rather than politicising the issue.
Concluding the debate, Rajdeep Sardesai said, "It is very easy to target an Abu Azmi because it gets you instant popularity. It is much more difficult to encourage libraries, plays and culture. Politicians need a quick fix to make a point so Azmi plays a Hindi card while Raj Thackeray plays the Marathi card."
Results of the SMS/web poll: Is Hindi acceptable to all Indians as the national language?
Yes: 53 per cent
No: 47 per cent
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