Amit Shah crazy? Letter to Amit Shah, Home minister government of India on the contentious language issue

 

Amit Shah crazy? Letter to Amit Shah, Home minister government of India on the contentious language issue

The following are excerpts of my letter to Mr Amit Shah, Home minister, Government of India

 

To Mr Amit Shah, Home Minister, Government of India

Your statements regarding role of Hindi and English in India

Dear Mr Amit Shah,

Greetings! I  hope this mail finds you in the best of health and spirits. It is with great alarm and  concern that I have observed and noted your ongoing and recent statements regarding the use or proposed discontinuation of the English language in India, and its replacement with Hindi which is obviously impossible on linguistic or anthropological grounds. In this regard, please note the following:

1. English is a neutral language, while Hindi is not:In case of Hindi, some states will have two languages, some states will have three languages. If English is removed, some states will have one language, some states will have two languages. Those who have Hindi, have it as their mother tongue; while non-Hindi speakers will have it as an alien language. This will be a double discrimination against a non-Hindi speaker. This is highly discriminatory, and obviously undemocratic. English is the only viable neutral link language, as opposed to other neutral languages such as Sanskrit which are opposed by some Dalit and Tamil groups who see it as a symbol of Brahminical hegemony. Sanskrit also has very little business of commercial value, and is generally seen as non-implementable, and non-communicable.

2. Language dynamics has become a major field of study in the fields of linguistics and anthropology. Languages spread in accordance to the principles of language dynamics, and not based on the whims of a politician or what he or she decides. It is not the prerogative of Amit Shah or any other politician to tell people what language to speak. This too is blatantly undemocratic. I have been writing extensively on language dynamics for over a decade now, with many publications in peer-reviewed journals. Hindi cannot replace English in India at any time, and this is quite obvious.

3. Countries which have attempted to impose the language of one community on other communities have either long since disintegrated or become failed states. Classic examples of this are the USSR which broke up and Pakistan which split after its eastern wing seceded to form Bangladesh. Also, kindly note that the central government cannot support the language of one or more states in a federal set up. Each state has to have its own language policy. India is not China. I have written on the differences between India and China extensively.

4. We also have other organizations and Entities such as the United Nations and the PEN club who have come up with declarations such as the UN declaration of human rights and the declaration of linguistic rights. We do not also want our language policy to contradict or contravene international frameworks. I will also write to these organizations shortly to ask them to strengthen their own respective frameworks.

I hope this makes sense to you. Focus instead on developing ALL Indian languages lexically to meet the technical challenges and requirements of the twenty-first century. I do not blindly support English at any cost, and those who want to pursue education in their mother tongue should be encouraged to do so. The antiquated and obsolete Rajbhasha department must be replaced forthwith with the department of Indian languages. I have written extensively on language policy. I am attaching my list of publications herewith. Your proposed policies are not in the interests of a strong and united India. All Indian states must teach the language of the state and English as primary languages. In addition, the learning of another Indian language is also welcome. As a matter of fact, Indians must be encouraged to learn other Indian languages to communicate with other Indians such most Indians may not want to use English all the time. The latter is somewhat elitist, and can play only some roles in society. We have no other options here, this is only a Hobson’s choice. I am copying this letter to other government department and to some international agencies as well.

Best and kind regards,

Sujay Rao Mandavilli

Founder-Director,

Institute for the study of the globalisation of science