[Answered] “Idea of treating Hindi as the national language runs contrary to the spirit of the Constitution and our country’s linguistic diversity”. Comment.

Demand of the question
Introduction. Contextual Introduction.
Body. How Imposing Hindi as national language on others is against constitutional spirit?
Conclusion. Way forward.

Idea of Hindi being treated as India’s National Language has been debated on since the time the Constitution was being written. It was recently resurrected by the Draft National Education Policy which seems to be giving Hindi more importance than other Indian languages. The dangers of imposing a language are manifold.

How Imposing Hindi as national language on others is against constitutional spirit?

  1. It can affect the learning ability of non-native speakers thereby affecting their self-confidence.
  2. It can also endanger other languages and dialects and reduce diversity. National integration cannot come at the cost of people’s linguistic identities.
  3. It is against spirit of Constitution, which made Hindi as official language so that it would only serve as a linking language and was not be imposed on non-Hindi speaking states.
  4. It would lead to Hindi chauvinism and is against linguistic diversity of the nation.
  5. Language is at the core of an individual’s identity. It is in a language that an individual conceptualises and communicates his thoughts which enables him to actively participate in society. Idea of national language will hamper such participation.
  6. Language is the most important tool of participation in the polity of the state and not being able to speak in the dominant language (or languages) of a state can have a serious impact on an individual’s employment, educational and recreational opportunities. This leads to discrimination and injustice.
  7. Imposing Hindi as national language is against Eighth schedule which comprises of a list of official languages and the government is under obligation to ensure their development.
  8. Such policies threaten the diversity and federalism of India. The states’ fear of the central government’s ideology of monopolising faith, education, and language will adversely affect the Indian political system, which is based on pluralism and accommodation.

National integration in a multilingual country does not require the imposition of one official language on the country, especially when the language selected for the purpose is one of its many regional languages even if it happens to be that of the largest linguistic group in the country. The focus should not be on establishing one national language, but should be shifted to strengthening the official languages whose importance cannot be disregarded.

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