Rashtra Bhasha

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ny attempt to ‘de-officialise’ the English language by the BJP led NDA government will invite pandemonium in the country. The NDA think-tank is very much aware of this. The Modi government will not legislate any act or law to ‘de-officialise’ the English language. It will rather choose the sly path to have its agenda implemented. In fact, it has already started the ‘de-promoting’ spade-work of the English language. Prime Minister Narendra will not speak English even in the United Nations. He chose to converse in ‘Rashtra Bhasha’ (it is still debatable whether the terms Rashtra Bhasha translate into ‘National language) to the top CEOs of the United States in New York last month. He would reply in Hindi to any query that comes in English. The stalwarts of the saffron party are no better. Rashtra Bhasha is what they are comfortable with. There is no issue if one uses the language he is comfortable with. But here, a political colour comes along. One is sure about it--promotion of Hindi is the bottom-line of the ‘saffronists’.THE HISTORY: Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar in his book ‘Scoop!’ says that the then Union Home minister Gobind Ballabh Pant, a staunch Hindi protagonist had his first heart attack after ‘his hero’ Jawaharlal Nehru had ticked him off. Gobind Ballabh Pant’s led Parliamentary Committee had prepared the report to recommend Hindi as the ‘principal’ language and English as a ‘subsidiary’ one. This issue was already there since 1955 when the government constituted a committee of 35 members from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to consider the recommendations of the Official Language Commission, according to the book Scoop! However, all the Members of Parliament from ‘non-Hindi states’ sternly opposed to the idea of Hindi replacing English. On February 10, 1965, 19 people were killed by police bullets and two police sub-inspectors were burnt to death when the ‘Madras agitation’ took a violent turn. They were protesting against the ‘imposition’ of Hindi, according to Kuldip Nayar’s Scoop! Over half a century later today, things have not changed much. States in south India and East India are still against the effort to ‘de-officialise’ English or against the ‘imposition’ of Hindi. For the North East people, English is one language they are comfortable with. But for the Hindi protagonists who are in the KURSI (at the moment), the agenda comes first followed by civility and other pleasantries.