By Anirudh Singla
On the recent occasion of Hindi Divas, President Ram Nath Kovind strongly emphasised on giving more respect to regional languages and their speakers in order to make Hindi more popular across the country. He took cognizance of the fact that Hindi continues to face opposition from some segments of the Indian populace and referred to recent incidents that conveyed feelings of language imposition.
Language and regionalism
Looking back at past incidents, such as protests of pro-Kannada groups that opposed Hindi signboards in metro services in Bengaluru to agitations in Tamil Nadu over its usage, President Kovind reflected over the entire issue in a stately manner. He was quoted saying, Non-Hindi speaking people desire that we (Hindi-speaking people) give attention to their languages. Those who speak Hindi should give space to other languages. We all have the responsibility to give respect to non-Hindi speaking people and regional languages. He also emphasised on how the adoption of other languages and cultures would bring in elements of unity amongst the people of the country. Giving anecdotes and suggestions, President Kovind suggested Hindi-speakers to greet a Tamilian with a ‘vanakkam’, a Sikh with ‘Sat Sri Akal’ and a Muslim with an ‘Adaab’, the terms used for greeting a person in their respective languages. He mentioned about an incident when he himself used the Russian word spasiba (Thank you) while ending his speech at a state banquet during Belarus President A G Lukashenkos recent visit. The gesture had evoked a spontaneous Jai Hind from the Belarus President along with an announcement that Hindi would be taught in the countrys state university from this month. President Kovind also asked for lawyers and doctors to use Hindi and other regional languages at work. He opined that In India, people don’t understand the language of lawyers and doctors. In courts, now, gradually Hindi and other languages are being spoken. Similarly, if the doctors start giving prescriptions in Devanagari and other languages, the doctor-patient distance will be reduced.
Home Minister’s response to the issue
Home Minister Rajnath Singh also mentioned in his address about how Hindi could be enriched further if its speakers used words and derivatives from other languages. The Home Minister also talked about how Hindi was the unifying language for the nation and had helped bring people of different regions in a unified Indian freedom struggle. He mentioned about the contribution of non-Hindi speaking people such as Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak in making Hindi, the official language of the country. He was also quoted saying that I want to ask those who say that without English India cant be an economic power, how come China has become an economic power by speaking Mandarin. Celebrating the essence of Hindi, the event concluded as planned with some minor disturbances, owing to a scuffle created by a Congress MP. Addressing the language imposition issue was a good step taken forward by the President. It is yet to be seen if such a speech leads to addressing the much-highlighted problems adequately or in some proportions.
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