Dear Citizens of Bharat,
I am writing this in English, because if I write in my mother tongue Hindi, not everyone in this country will be able to ‘read’ it. I am not saying they will not understand it, but they can’t read ‘Devanagri’ script, as most of them might not be taught Hindi as a compulsory language in schools. Even if they are taught, they learn only till 10th Standard and then ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
Rather than beating around the bush, let me be clear. I am against the imposition of any language in India. I am also against the imposition of compulsory language of a dominant community in States/UTs. I do not practice linguistic chauvinism nor promote it. It is going to take this country backwards.
To those who comment on any usage of one language in this country, haven’t, unfortunately, seen the length and breadth of this great nation. Fortunately, I have the pleasure and privilege to say that I’ve travelled extensively from J&K to Kerala, and Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh. I have spoken to many civilians to civil societies; and from grassroot leaders to television leaders. I can dare to say that I understand this nation, Bharat.
I am very sad about the affairs going on. We are fighting again! Fighting on the ground of language. We are more than 1.4 billion people, one of the most diverse nations in the world, growing rapidly and now ranking among the top three global economies. We have a huge gap to fulfill, when it comes to development and upliftment of our citizens, we cannot afford to fight, that too on an element, as intrinsic as language.
I am in Shillong currently, it is one of the cosmopolitan towns in India. Here there are Khasi, Garo, Pnar (Jaintia), Nepali, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese etc. language speaking communities living peacefully for decades. It is a cultural hotspot not only of Meghalaya but also of the region. Similarly, Delhi, which is our capital, welcomes everyone wholeheartedly. I hail from Madhya Pradesh, which is one of the most peaceful states in this country, we welcome everyone, from every religion, community and whichever language you speak, we understand you as we are the ‘heart of India’.
Whichever language you speak, if it is your mother tongue, it will always be your first choice. But, it might not be the same for the other person sitting next to you. We have to learn to adapt to differences. All mother tongues must be promoted. I only know and can speak two languages – English and Hindi, Hindi being my mother tongue. I have been able to successfully travel throughout India depending on my proficiency in these languages. If some other language were my mother tongue, I would have been proficient in that.
There are many multilingual people in this country. We should also appreciate our fellow citizens who have learnt Hindi, even if it is not their mother tongue. I am personally grateful to you, especially in far-East villages and down-South towns. If we, for example, compel people from other States to speak the language of our state, it is not going to work. Secondly, it will create linguistic, social and cultural differences. What’s the point?
What’s the message? It is to peacefully co-exist. Our languages, all of them have their limitations. Even English isn’t spoken by everyone in the world. Language is a medium of communication and not a medium to create differences. We should promote learning multiple languages, and even while writing this, I promise myself to learn at least one other language from a beautiful list of languages that we speak in this country.
With this,
Jai Hind.