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Is European Union our Language Game-Changer?

Is India ready for One Language for its Masses?  That's a good question we Indians have been searching more than 50-years for an answer!  The One Language issue was so controversial during our Republic’s formative years, and it continues to be troublesome 62-years after independence.  Although the issue seems to have simmered, it has the potential to rear its head if our leaders are not careful. 

History's Lessons
There are those who argue that Hindi should be the unifying language, while some others claim English should be our link language.  Before we move on to moderate that debate, here’s a brief history lesson.  At the time of Independence, with the Hindi speaking people in majority, it was decided that Hindi would replace English as the pseudo-National language by 1965.  Important to note is that this victory for Hindi over the South-supported-English was accomplished by one extra vote in its favor.  Clearly, Hindi was not backed by majority of the India people as they believe it was tantamount to imposing a language on others in the name of National Integration.

Parliamentary debates in those days were lively and enlightening.  As the language issue was discussed in Parliament, one of India's finest Chief Ministers (Anna Durai of Tamil Nadu) remarked that using Hindi within India and English outside is akin to having a big door for the big dog and a small door for the small dog.  He quipped why not have the small dog use the big door as well? 

Unsustainable Rhetoric
Even in times today, when you speak with people passionate on the language subject, the debate denigrates to utter rhetoric.  I was watching an Indian TV  program, which sparked the question whether it is time for a unitary language in India.  I was bemused when a Leader of the Samajwadi Party extolled the virtue of Hindi as our national language.  The argument put forth was Hindi is widely spoken language within India, while English is spoken by less than 10% of India’s populace.  Suddenly, I realized that most Hindi speakers use that line of argument to lecture everyone to adopt Hindi.  Blogs, News Articles, Essays etc all have some sort of a condescending attitude while they extol the virtue of Hindi versus other developed languages (such as Tamil, Telugu etc). 

Cultural Walling
I fundamentally challenge the notion that India is ready for a single language, or will ever be.  We can have all our debates and point of views, but the underlying reason is that we are culturally walled and that to transcend that cultural wall requires enormous personal and national energy.  Even though South Indians supposedly come from the Dravidian root, imagine what would happen if we were to announce that Tamil will replace Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.  Do you expect them to sit back take it with a smiling face?  Well, all hell will break loose.  Do we need another Telengana?  Another anti-Hindi riots?  Whether majority of Indians speak Hindi or not, forcing a language on other independent minded people is wrought with serious problems for our nationhood.  So, let us not all cry and die for a unitary language in India when it does not make any sense.   

European Union Model
My view is that people are driven by “economic reasons” when making every day decisions.  We all look forward to getting a good deal, and when we don't we end up sad.  From an economic stand point, Hindi certainly does not stand a chance to unify India and become its lingua franc a.  India's future will be determined by our governance despite our no national language policy.  As Europe has shown the way, why not follow the European Union model of developing each state into super power.     Europe with all its diverse languages and cultures is slowly integrating and is already a force to reckon with.  Why not Indian Union develop along those lines?


Signing off.
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