(Writing in English because the article is in English)
“English is the real official language of India” – funnily I made a similar remark several years ago – “English is the real national language of India.”
Everything in society and polity, including the Constitution itself, privileges English over all our languages. If anyone is responsible for not respecting not just Hindi, but any other Bharatiya language, it is squarely we the people who have shamelessly adopted a foreign language as superior to our own – whether “own” = Hindi, Thamizh, Sanskrit, Bangla, or any other.
Also problematic is how it is stupidly “uncool” to use our own languages. Although nothing is as “cool” as English in popular perception, interestingly Urdu gets a better place here, as it is still considered somewhat “cooler” than the rustic “dehati zaban” – a blanket term used for all Bharatiya languages in Urdu’s geographic proximity.
(Writing in English because the article is in English)
“English is the real official language of India” – funnily I made a similar remark several years ago – “English is the real national language of India.”
Everything in society and polity, including the Constitution itself, privileges English over all our languages. If anyone is responsible for not respecting not just Hindi, but any other Bharatiya language, it is squarely we the people who have shamelessly adopted a foreign language as superior to our own – whether “own” = Hindi, Thamizh, Sanskrit, Bangla, or any other.
Also problematic is how it is stupidly “uncool” to use our own languages. Although nothing is as “cool” as English in popular perception, interestingly Urdu gets a better place here, as it is still considered somewhat “cooler” than the rustic “dehati zaban” – a blanket term used for all Bharatiya languages in Urdu’s geographic proximity.