Should Indian citizens be ashamed of speaking in English as Amit Shah said? - My thoughts on this recent topic making a buzz on Youtube and online

   

Language plays a crucial role in our daily lives, whichever language we speak in our day-to-day lives. Having said this, India is the 2nd most diverse country in the world when it comes to the number of languages spoken throughout the country after Papua New Guinea and there are broadly 4 major language families in India from a linguistic perspective -

i) The Indo-European language family (particularly Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages like Sanskrit and its daughters like Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati etc) spoken in North and Central India.

ii) The Dravidian language family (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, Paduga, Kodaga etc) mostly spoken in the 5 Southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

iii) The Sino-Tibetian language family (Mizo, Assamese, Naga etc.) spoken in the North-Eastern part of India.

iv) The Austronesian language family spoken by some tribal people interspersed throughout various states in the Central and Northern part of India.

  Hindi is spoken by nearly 40% of Indians and the reason for this is because the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages including the descendants of Sanskrit is the largest family owing to the poor, uneducated background of most Hindi speakers in the North hailing from rural areas where because of the poor educational background of the people living in states like Chattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkand, Uttrakhand etc., family planning is not followed by poor Hindi speakers from these regions leading to a high rate of population growth in these states especially among the lower classes of people. This is the primary reason why there are so many Hindi speakers in India, the second reason is that aside from Hindi, there are other daughter languages of Sanskrit that are mostly spoken in the North and Central states of India whose natives have 0 difficulty in learning Hindi. This has always been the main reason why so many North Indians and the Central government of India have been trying to make Hindi the de facto national language of India in total disregard of the views of the speakers of languages belonging to other language families in India like the Dravidian language speakers and others. Both the British and those who fought for India's independence who knew and respected this feeling of South Indians particularly Tamilians well, suggested that people could choose between 2 official languages for communication between speakers of various states - English and Hindi. 

   Of late, with Hindutuva sentiments on the rise in North India being spread by the current ruling party BJP, leading to communal tensions between people of different faiths, feelings of wanting to impose Hindi on Southerners have also risen among Northerners. Hindutuva as an ideology banks on the principles of 1 India which its proponents prefer to call "Bharat" which is further defined by the idea of 1 religion (Hinduism), 1 language (Hindi or its mother Sanskrit) and particular hatred is shown towards Christianity as a faith (besides Islam) and the English language which are viewed and abhorred by Hindutuva proponents as tools of European colonialism in blatant disregard of the fact that in the area of faith, Christianity came to India before it went to Europe via the apostle Thomas and with regard to English, its role in the world has only grown to be ever relevant because not all foreigners speak Hindi but English and knowing English is a must to secure any good job, this hatred of English by Hindutuva supporters is why they want to force Hindi on Southerners like us Tamilians all the more of which they fail to realise that this again is an exercise in futility because we cannot and will not be forced to accept any language or views against our personal wishes. This is in stark contrast to the values and principles of most of India's freedom fighters like Gandhi and Nehru who believed and promoted the idea that India's strength lies in its diversity in the areas of religion, languages, cultures that differ from one region to another. India is like this colourful tapestry where all the strings are interwoven to create a seamless but unified India where people's rights are not just respected and valued but also cherished by each other whether in the area of faith, language, culture of even food habits.

  In light of the above facts, how then is it justified to expect English-speaking citizens of India to be ashamed of speaking in English as Amit Shah stated in a recent speech?. Even Modi uses English when he goes abroad and talks in International forums. Some may argue that he has also spoken in Hindi there but to speak in Hindi as opposed to speaking in English gives off all the wrong signals to the listeners in such international forums as if the speaker is uneducated or lacking in knowledge because they would think that he does not speak a word of English, maybe this is why Modi speaks in English too at times during his international trips, since it not just makes him easily understandable but also earns him the respect of his peers from various lands. Moreover, if regular citizens of India should be ashamed of speaking in English, is Amit Shah saying that speaking in English is only reserved for elite politicians and not common Indian citizens?. The Indian Constitution empowers and encourages citizens of India with many rights including the right to speak in whichever language they please aside from full freedom of thought and expression. This not just means that people are free to speak whichever language they please which implicitly implies that nobody including the government can force us as Indian citizens to learn or speak any language against our volition which further rubbishes the idea that Hindi is the national language of India but also nobody is to be treated as inferior to another just because he speaks a specific language or should feel as such - fundamentally opposed to Amit Shah's statement on English speakers having to be ashamed of speaking English with whomsoever they please both within and outside India.   

    Even my previous article on the Central government's unwillingness to allow further excavations to continue in Keezhadi near Madurai further goes to show that the 1 Hindi language agenda is deeply rooted in the BJP government's core ideology that is willing to sacrifice India's linguistic, religious and cultural diversity on the altar of uniformity as it represents with its idea of 1 nation (Bharat) with 1 religion (Hinduism) and 1 language (Hindi/Sanskrit) and it also highlights their insecurity if more archaeological evidence is brought to light proving the ancient nature of Tamil which would naturally serve to strength our Tamil Dravidian resolve to prevent Hindutuva politics from making inroads into the politics of our home state of Tamil Nadu which is the BJP's horror. They fail to realise that hindering further archaeological work on Tamil civilisational cradles like Keezhadi will only further solidify our stance when it comes to standing unflinchingly with our Dravidian Tamil identity and deepen our resolve to use English unabashedly with those from the North, regardless of their thoughts or feelings of us using English to speak with them. We Tamilians are unashamed not just of our Tamil language and our culture which is distinct from the Northern culture of India but also we are proud and honoured to use English with Northerners and with foreigners (as well as other foreign languages which we speak) and will continue to use it because it is not Hindi that feeds us but English. Also, contrary to what Hindutuva's supporters would spread about English learning and use being forced upon Indians by the British which is a far cry from the actual state of affairs in India when the British ruled our land because Englishmen actually did not support the idea of Indians learning English for fear that we would then learn their law and fight for our independence which is what happened when our freedom fighters with their degrees in law from England set out to fight for India's independence from the United Kingdom, hence it is a baseless lie for Hindutuva adherents to state that learning and use of the English language was thrust on us against our wishes by the British.

   Keeping the above points in mind, I would like to point out that English is more deserving than Hindi of the title "National language of India" and here is my reasoning - our freedom fighters did not use Hindi with the English when they protested against them and eventually succeeded in getting the English to leave, so which language did they use in their fight for our Indian independence - English!. Yup, you heard that right, it was not Hindi or Urdu that got us our independence but English which is wrongly regarded by Hindutuva proponents as a vestige of colonialism worthy of denunciation at the expense of Hindi which they believe must be imposed on the masses of our country India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Mumbai to the North-East which no doubt, would eventually lead India down a road of self-imposed ignorance of the world around us while exposing us to the scorn of the world all while doning a mask of self-imposed deification of one's own identity. The latter is a very pathetic state of mind to be in because our world is not just made up of 1 country named "India" but there are other countries, other cultures and languages that are unique and special in their own way and to sulk down to the state of self-deification is to trudge further down the lane of self-isolation from our neighbours, both distant and afar, all of whose languages and cultures have something to offer us which we can imbibe from and grow together in international diplomacy paving the road for future harmony and peace between India and the nations of the world.

  Finally, to answer Amit Shah's question, will we be ashamed of speaking in English or any other local or foreign language amongst ourselves as we please? - NO. What do I think of language learning and use - I wholeheartedly agree with our Indian Constitution which is founded on the international principles of Human Rights which includes women's and children's rights and also not just supports but also encourages freedom of speech and expression including freedom to learn and use whichever language we please without governmental or legal pressure to force us to learn or use any language including Hindi against our will and wishes. In fact, contrary to the language identity politics plaguing our nation, I would encourage school children to choose whichever language they wish to learn as per their desires or requirements based on future plans and I am thoroughly convinced that in order for the GDP of every Indian state in India to grow, they should imitate the example of Tamil Nadu as our GDP is next only to Maharashtra's in India - no language imposition, language learning should be a personal choice and Indian children should be encouraged  to learn and use not just English but also other foreign languages as they please without being bogged down in language politics between Central and State governments, while local languages can be taught to children by their parents and elders so that they do not forget their identity while exploring the world around them linguistically!