The Centre-State Issue of Language: On English Language Row

On 19th June 2025, the Home Minister Amit Shah, on the occasion of a book launch in Delhi, reportedly said: “In this country, those who speak English will soon be ashamed.”

Everybody feels proud of the language of one’s native country, and when the highest number of people speaking a language in a Nation is considered, Hindi being a language in India with a population of 1.4 billion surpassing that of China today, would perhaps clinch the top position.

Let us first start to consider: ‘What is Language?’

In its simplest definition: ‘Language is the meaningful sound of communication between people.’

Today, the world has people speaking different languages unintelligible to each other, however though living in great distances away from each other, they are able to cohere together in one single global sense of humanity because of the means of ability to communicate with one another, despite the distance. Language greatly unites people; and because of the ease of communication, the world is today becoming like a single Global Place.

Nonetheless, humans have not yet invented any new language since they started covering themselves with ‘fig leaves’ and love the language they have in common more than the language they don’t understand.

Incidentally, the world has seen groups speaking the same native language; sometimes dominating others in lands they don’t understand the language and spreading their own language by means available to them. The language of some people is becoming international language. Today German, French, Portuguese, Spanish and English are spoken in more than one country, even in several continents also. Though language divides people, its communicative advantage far exceeds its disadvantages.

Language and trade follow wherever the National flag goes; thus the Portuguese and English came to India. Sardar Patel however had done away with the Portuguese language with Indian Army Flag and Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence replaced the English Flag in India. The British left India but their language unobtrusively remained as the common medium of communication of the broadening middle class of many-language India, though the general population communed with each other in their own regional community tongues. The English language however, without any compulsion, conveniently and popularly became the Pan-India language.     

Language has a politics of its own: it cannot be controlled like a cowboy on horseback with dangling ropes coiled round his hand, rounds up the cattle into the coral, or language is not controlled like the police control the traffic in the street. It grows on its own uninhibited liberal freedom. Of convenience, if not of necessity, English became the easiest lingua-franca in India, the language of literature, of the law and order and the language of government communications including the language of civil communication; actually English language made India.

The English, by its own nature of broad inclusiveness, accepting words of other tongues, unorthodox in spelling etcetera and has become the world’s most accepted international language. It is an embarrassment today if one does not speak English in society.

When Singapore was driven out on Indonesia gaining Independence, the population consisted of four races of people -- Chinese, Indonesians, Indians and others. The country is small without any natural resources; literacy was low and the per capita GDP was very low. To develop the country, Lee Kwan Yew, the first President of Singapore did two things first: he declared ENGLISH as Official Language of Singapore instead of the Chinese majority, and CLEANED its entire RIVERS. Within one generation, Singapore became one of the cleanest and richest countries of the world with per capita GDP higher than even Switzerland.

Indians are perhaps the most widely immigrated people in most of the four continents of the world, in the Islands of the Oceans and in many Countries of the world; they did not spread Hindi in any of the places they migrated, yet because of their proficiency in English language, they could easily enter into the GDP producing workforce of the country they immigrated to, than people of other countries. And because of proficiency in English language and their zest to adopt one syllable over the adjacent syllable of the English language, or of the American English accents rather than being ashamed of it; and an English speaking Indian, even with his English speaking wife, became the Prime Minister of Britain and Exchequer of the Government. And a continent beyond the Atlantic, an American of Indian descent felt no shame to fight for the President of the USA, nearly wresting it.

Kamaraj, without any School Education, was four times Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and was described as the Greatest Politician of the World by President Humphrey of America, yet it is a little embarrassing that a Home Minister of the world’s biggest democracy do not speak English.

India appears inclined to force Hindi language on people to whom Hindi is not their mother tongue: if so, then by the same force, every Home Minister of India should learn one Indian language other than Hindi- not his or her mother tongue.

The Naga is very proud of the Indian Constitution’s Special Provision to them in Article 371A; but now the people have started suspected whether India is Serious about the provisions of Article. During the British Government, the Nagas had no less rights and protections by the Government. The Centre may give less lavish fund to the State, but never constrict the values proclaimed in Article 371A. The people were never forced to learn Assamese, the official government language or English; instead a very significant government system of dobashi, interpreter (Do Bhasha, Hindi) was evolved for the land and the people during the British administration. 

Nothing is more cultural and customary of a people than its language. When the language of a people is taken away from them, it is denying them their life. 

It is a good indicator that the political parties in Nagaland have voiced their objection to the statement of the Home Minister; I hope they would zealously continue to press for the rights of the state. It may even be contemplated in the Assembly to declare English to continue as the Official Language of the State and request may even be made to the Union Government to endorse an English copy of all the communications from the Centre to the State. This is compatible of the Special Constitution Provision for Nagas of Nagaland.   

The Nagas may have to live together with India for quite some time and mutual Respect, Goodwill and Understanding, is aimed at. India is the big brother and is expected of a little magnanimity in the biggest democracy.

Thepfulhouvi Solo, IFS (RR-68)