There was much furore recently over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s comment that Hindi must be accepted as an alternative to English in India. As someone from Tamil Nadu, I was not surprised by the knee-jerk reactions from the politicians and celebrities of the state.
I know for a fact that if one moves outside Tamil Nadu, beyond Vindhyas, one is definitely bound to see Hindi already functioning as the link language for the rest of the country. In any workplace within Tamil Nadu, even employees from non-Tamil Southern states often converse in Hindi. Telugu or Kannada-speaking people in most corporate and education settings chat between themselves in Hindi. I have seen senior non-Tamil bureaucrats of Tamil Nadu cadre resorting to Hindi with junior colleagues. Yet, we do not want to accept this fact and politicians presume we are still keeping Hindi away from our doors.
The fault is not with Hindi, but the lack of quality teaching in Tamil and other regional languages.
Also Read: India’s Brahmins, Baniyas gained from English. BJP-RSS want to deny that to Dalits, Adivasis
Hindi hegemony and regional languages
One can see Hindi hegemony in how all-India examinations, apart from English, are conducted in Hindi alone; how employees of Central government offices in non-Hindi speaking states are made to learn and communicate in Hindi; or how the service providers in non-Hindi speaking states arrogantly do not deliver services in certain regional languages.
But what did other non-Hindi states like Tamil Nadu do for their own languages? Can making Tamil a mandatory paper for the State Public Service Commission examination, or providing reservations for students with a Tamil-medium background, resolve the lack of incentive for people to learn their native language? What it can definitely do is generate more jobs for people of the state with different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Will bringing out a book on Keezhadi excavations in all 24 Indian and global languages, or displaying the richness of Tamil culture in Burj Khalifa, or playing the exotic music track by A. R. Rahman on ‘Thamizhe Thaaye’ (Mother Tamil), installing ‘Tamizh Vaazhga’ (Hail Tamil) boards in government buildings, or publishing a government order making it mandatory to stand for Tamil anthem, help the language prosper? Most of these decisions aren’t meant to celebrate Tamil but evoke a reaction and keep the fanaticism alive. These initiatives don’t help the language in itself. Just look at the number of times we have ignored serious writers purely because of their affiliation with different political parties or ideologies.
Also Read: Hindi dominance a joke. English/non-English divide real apartheid in India
Contemporary Tamil culture
Many of my Tamil-speaking friends born after the 1990s have been reading Perumal Murugan, Ambai and celebrated popular fiction Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki Krishnamurthy, in English rather than in Tamil. These are the same people who have studied Tamil at least till tenth grade in school. Most pick up the English version of Tamil classics because it is easier for them to read and comprehend.
On a recent visit to my village, in a part of the Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu, I met a child from a humble background who was put in an English-medium school because of its glamour. By the sixth grade, the boy could neither properly read elementary-level English nor Tamil. This is the state of middle-class aspirations today. Fluency in any language is a thing of the past. Any retired Tamil professor today will tell you about the sad state of Tamil teaching at both school and college levels. Even educators today have lost the habit of reading. The sheer inefficiency and lack of interest in teaching languages among educators have only increased with time.
While we have a herculean task ahead to end the ‘battle’ of non-Hindi Indian languages against Hindi, the political comebacks only instigate hatred for the Hindi language and its speakers among fanatics. In Tamil Nadu, millennials have been proudly using slangs like ‘vadakkans’ (‘northies’). This is a reflection of anger and hatred spewed by political parties to retaliate against Hindi imposition. The migrant labourers from North India are often seen as ‘objects of disgust’ and suspected of indulging in unlawful activities. When one meets an educated North Indian in a professional or educational setting, they quote their unfavourable rankings in various socio-economic reports. But how does that help Tamil?
Also Read: Modi must clarify if non-Hindi speakers will be lesser citizens in New Hindia
‘Tamil patriotism’ is illogical
Where does Tamil as a language stand today? How many people, especially from the current generation, can write and read it? The answer isn’t something people would like to hear. In that sense, ‘Tamil patriotism’ is quite illogical. Do we have a mechanism to propagate and preserve the language in various regions like Alliance Francaise or Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha does for French and Hindi? Tamil Sangams and associations around the world just act as a diaspora body to congregate during festivals with ‘literary meetings’ once in a blue moon.
‘Hindi theriyathu poda’ is not the answer to check imposition. Political parties will continue to play the language card because it arouses popular sentiments. Instead, it is time for the non-Hindi Indian languages to be reinvented. Counteractions that are loud can only send political messages but never help in advancing the language.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)