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Hindi vs English vs everything else is a tired political template. Language isn’t a class war

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India keeps tripping on its tongue. Tamil vs Kannada, mother tongue vs Hindi and English vs everything else. HM Amit Shah has a dream – a new India where English-speaking Indians feel shame. But this political template of pitting the hinterland against Delhi elite is tired. Language isn’t a class war.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Highlighting Tamil vs Kannada, really that too as a opening sentence based a opposition to a single movie stars comment, wow these journalists

  2. By the way most educated Indians including BJPs top brass send their kids to western countries for higher education and jobs.

  3. Delhi elite? Seriously, Ms. Shailaja Bajpai?
    Do you really think Delhi elites represent the very best of Indian English language?
    Indian English has gained respectability across the world due to the contributions of south Indians, Bengalis and Marathis.
    People of Delhi and it’s neighbouring regions have pretty much zero contribution towards the development of Indian English.

  4. Our HM needs to understand that English is now an Indian language too. Further, people around the world communicate in English. So knowing good English gives India an advantage. One must remember always that Indias linguistic heritage is extremely rich. Lets preserve it through gaining proficiency and popularizing Indian languages. Lets not define our linguistic heritage in such a narrow manner as our HM has done.

  5. English is the passport for each aspirational Indian child’s – should there be any other sort – path to a better future. One reason why young people from the north east are so well represented in the hospitality, even the airline, industry. More and more Indians are going abroad, either permanent emigration or as guest workers, since a faltering economic model is not creating enough jobs and economic opportunities within the country. The moment they leave Indian shores, what is proficiency in Hindi or any regional language worth. Proficiency in English is pretty much the only competitive advantage India now enjoys over China in a globalised world.

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