New Delhi: That Hindi is the language of majority is an idea born out of communal sentiment and the campaign of the last few years to save Hindi from Urdu comes from there, said Rahul Dev, a language expert at the talk Hindi ko fark padta hai!.
The session was the first of a monthly brainstorming series organised by Rajkamal Prakashan and India Habitat Centre.
“Urdu is being used as a shield to attack Islam and Muslims. In many countries of the world, language has been used as a weapon,” he said, junking the narrative of Hindi being the language of majority.
The discussion at the IHC in the heart of the national capital was one of the rare occasions where the language debate seemed finding nuance, attempting to look beyond the binary of foreign vs indigenous and the annual ritual of fortnight-long celebrations in government offices.
All speakers present were fluent in more than one language and aware of the linguistic crisis at play in India. The gathering included historian and Associate Professor at CSDS Ravikant, Radio Jockey Sayema, DU Professor Sujata, and Shailesh Bharatwasi who runs Hindi Publication called Hind Yugm.
The Gulmohar Hall at the IHC was packed with Hindi experts, Delhi University students and journalists. The talk that lasted for more than 90 minutes touched upon a range of language issues—from politics of language to the social implications and challenges to identity representation.
And the speakers agreed the role of Hindi in our lives has never been discussed like it is being done in today’s India. In a gathering of more than 80, majority were youth who had come to learn from an informed discussion on the challenges to their ‘mother tongue’.
The language’s rich interpretations were visible in the title of the talk itself and drew the speakers’ attention. It was the exclamation in ‘Hindi ko fark padta hai!’ title that became the starting point of the discussion. “Hindi language itself doesn’t do anything? Rather we, the people, do everything in the name of Hindi,” said Ravikant, cinema expert and historian.
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Language of majority vs minority
The opening remarks itself gave an idea to the audience of what was to come in the discussion that would peel the layers of the language. Media analyst and moderator Vineet Kumar said the celebration around Hindi was due to it being the language of majority.
Rahul Dev, who was listening intently, instead said “That Hindi should be celebrated because it is the language of the majority is a very strange and absurd sentiment.”
Going back to the genesis of the language debate, Dev said that since 1880, an atmosphere was created in Tamil Nadu through songs against Hindi and a demonic image was built around the language. The 1960s also saw the language war of north versus South.
Though the Modi government has actively advocated for the Hindi cause, language experts said there are many challenges to the language that are not visible. “Even a great language like Hindi is vulnerable and literature is not in a position to save Hindi because language is a bigger thing than literature,” said Dev.
“Every language is very delicate, which remains alive through behavior. It does not exist without us. It has no life outside behavior,” he added.
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Representation of identities
One of the biggest concerns of Hindi has been the lack of original knowledge material in the language. That is where English has an upper hand.
“The vocabulary of thought and discussion has to be created, it cannot be competed with literature alone,” said Sujata, while also questioning whether Hindi is able to represent identities properly.
“Most hate speech and trolling is happening in this language. It is not a problem of language that we have not been able to develop an inclusive and compassionate society for it,” she said.
Sujata mentioned an incident that brilliantly exemplifies evolution and innovation by the speakers. When an NGO ran a poll on Twitter (now X) asking for a Hindi word for ‘mansplaining’, the answer was ‘gyanmardi’. It was not language experts who came up with this response, it is the people who probably think in the language.
“We have to coin new words for different identities,” she said.
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Kya Hindi ko fark padta hai?
The conflict between Hindi and English is eternal. What started as a celebration of Hindi soon turned toward the concerns vis a vis the foreign language.
“The biggest challenge is that we are not able to express ourselves in any language. We need to learn the language that is our identity. No language is inferior and there is no language that wears the crown,” said RJ Sayema.
But Ravikant said the language has democratised and has progressed beyond the ‘Daryaganj certified Hindi’.
That the audience at the IHC was invested was proved when one among them pressed the speakers to answer in one word the question— Hindi ko kis se fark padta hai?
‘Government’, ‘politics’, ‘power’ and ‘dissent’ were the responses.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)