I stopped writing on Political issues in Ramanis blog for the past five years.Reason is that many of the readers felt that political issues need not find a place in a blog dedicated to Sanatana Dharma and antiquity of Hinduism.I agreed.However off and on I write my views in my other site Ramani comments and in Facebook.
Now there seems to be an attempt at pushing Hindi surreptitiously on Non Hindi speaking people,though there is a vociferous denial to the contrary.
I would like to share my views now as it is vital that people know what is at stake.
I have chosen this URL because it is read by more people, with over 16 million hits and about 6000 plus subscribers.
When people say there is an attempt to push Hindi now, Why this comment was not made after anti Hindi agitation in the sixties in Tamilnadu was successful?
There has been no talk about this till a few months back.
There was sporadic mention of this issue by DMK and AIADMK during elections,which no nobody lent credence because everyone knew it was an election gimmick and a non issue.
Most of the people in Tamilnadu do speak in favour of Hindi now, because of the fear thst these Corrupt fraudsters might come to power and ruin Tamilnadu as they had done .So better to support Hindi rather than to allow these unscrupulous scamsters.
Now we find the new language policy which provides for learning local language optional but it ensures Hindi as Hindi as Official Language.
When you make one language as Official, you make non Hindi people in Government service atleast to learn Hindi for better career opportunities.
The argument is A Nation needs a link language and only then the country will be integrated.
This is a wrong premise.
I Had written earlier , in ancient India,where there were over 56 kingdoms,the was no official link language.
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There are references to in Tamil literature and Sanskrit Texts, Vedas,Ramayan, Mahabharata,Eighteen Purans and in later Sanskrit and regional literary works.
Regional literature refers to Sanatana Dharma and Ithihsas in detail, be it Tamil, Telugu,Kannda,Bangla, Oriya.
Evidence abounds that a healthy trade between the people of the south and the north flourished since the Vedic period.
Now the question is how did these people communicate with each other in view of the fact that India has multiple languages and dialects.
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There are 22 major languages in India, written in 13 different scripts, with over 720 dialects’ .https://www.justlanded.com/english/India/India-Guide/Language/Languages-in-India
‘According to Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. However, figures from other sources vary, primarily due to differences in definition of the terms “language” and “dialect”. The 2001 Census recorded 30 languages which were spoken by more than a million native speakers and 122 which were spoken by more than 10,000 people’ -wiki
Sanskrit is said to be oldest language being dated about 5000 years back.
( I had written this my not be correct and Sanskrit might be much older along with Tamil, an ancient language of India. million year old Tamil Site near Chennai ,Tamil Nadu with advanced Tamil civilization.And Tami quotes Vedas and Vedas in turn quote Tamil and Tamil Kings.Please read my articles on this)
The languages spoken in the south and even among the north indi differ.
Sanskrit is accepted in all the regions though!
Groups in India spoke different languages.
Yet they were in intimate contact with the Sanatana Dharma People whose language was Sanskrit. https://ramanisblog-in.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/ramanisblog.in/2016/09/27/common-link-language-of-vedic-sanatana-dharma-india/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=16003125637169&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Framanisblog.in%2F2016%2F09%2F27%2Fcommon-link-language-of-vedic-sanatana-dharma-india%2F
So why now?
The answer would be there were wars between kingdoms and Bharatvarsha was not United.
Who said that?
Read Puranas and History.
The wars were there because of land ,woman and wealth and not because of Language during the period when kings ruled India.
Secondly have you stopped internecine quarrels after Hindi was introduced?
On the contrary, it caused wide spread unrest to the level of people wanting to secede!
One should remember language , Religious and cultural practices are close to one’s heart and the surest way to destroy unity of a country is by imposing a language, though by cleverly worded communiques.
One should learn from History.Those who refuse shall be doomed.
When you say India is a melting pot of various cultures, please remember Language is the root of a culture.
Another argument advanced to promote Hindi is that it opens up employment opportunities.
Partially true.
Merely learning a language can not guarantee employment.
Do we offer jobs to someone because he knows a language?One needs the skillset for a job.Language will be an additional qualification.If an individual needs it, he shall learn it. Why should Government tell me? If I need to learn a language to survive, I will I shall learn it,wheter you tell me or not.
Has the government enforced legislation to ensure my welfare for all I need? It is impossible.
So,why language of all other things?
Another argument, it is spoken by majority, which can be contested.Which Ishall.
If majority is the criterion, shall all follow Islam as the most practised Religion of the world?
This would give the moral high pedestal that you are a really a liberated forward looking country.
When people talk Hindi as the single largest spoken language of India,which Hindi are you speaking about?
Hindi spoken in UP,if so of which region of UP?
Or in Uttarakhand, Himachal, Gujrat, Rajasthan,Punjab, Haryana,Bengal,Odisha,Assam, Meghalaya, Maharastra,AP, Telengana,MP, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala…..?
So which Hindi are you speaking about?
Unfortunately those who advocate Hindi are those whose mother tongue is not Hindi.
Why have they learnt it?
Because they needed it to survive or advance their careers.
One need not advise, people will learn if they need it,as I said it earlier.
The argument that your mother tongue will not be affected because of learning Hindi is erroneous.
Same canard was put out when English was introduced in India by Macaulay. Read my article on the reason why Macaulay advocated English.
Now what has happened?
Most of us read our Religious texts, Puranas and Ithihasas in English.
We read English nursery rhymes saying Rain Rain go away in a country where we need rains.
Our children call mother Mummy.
This process has slowly sounded the death knell of Indian languages.
Do we want to repeat this by substituting Hindi for English?
Again only by learning Hindi one gets employment opportunities, how come Hindi speaking people work in non Hindi speaking ,go there to work?
If you say Hindi speakers learn local language,tell me how many speak and write in Kannada,Tamil, Telugu,Bengali…?
Why hindi speaking states do not opt to learn other languages, especially from South?
Where is the statistics?
And in the committee constituted for Study and promotion of Indian culture, why no south indian is not reprented?
And a senior Government official says he knows only Hindi and those who do not know Hindi may get out!
This, in an important Central Government meeting of Officers.
Would the government have accepted it if Kannada spaeking officer said those who do not know Kannada to get out?
They might do so only after someone protests?
Should they protest for their rights?
Why this sudden surge in promoting Hindi?
Out of personal experience let me record these facts.
I have been delivering lectures in various forums,mostly in English because the audience do not know English.
But in a Meet to be attended bt academicians,which included vice chancellors of Universities, who know English, I was asked to deliver my speech in Hindi.
I refused.
Why should I?
I have a mental block in speaking Hindi,though I can write and understand.Reason is that during my formative years in the sixties, I saw the fanaticism to impose Hindi and this has affected me to a great extent.
Now I see in various groups, I am ridiculed and Tamil called as Dumeel in Facey communities the moment I post a researched article on the Antiquity of Tamil ,Tamils,Kannada or Telugu.
People, please remember no language is less than five thousand years old, except Hindi.
Respect other languages, culture and learn them.
Don’t ridicule them and promote one surreptitiously.
There is a larger India ,Bharathavarsha beyond the Hindi belt.
I know I shall be pilloried for this article.
Truth has to told.
To me my mother comes first.
That doesn’t mean I should ask others to accept her.
I respect others’ mother at my will.
Life is not only career, there are things beyond that, if you know what I mean.
Please don’t insult the language of Sri Tulsi Das by your misadventures like what the Dravidian parties did to Tamil.
# For those people who say I am a Tamil chauvinist,please read my articles on various, languages cultures in India
And I am much closer to the people who promote Hindi than others and know their thinking process .
Ramanisblog 
6 responses to “Why Hindi, of All Times,Now”
With due respect with your age and enjoyed your previous articles in this blog, let me put my comments on some of your points you mentioned in this article.
Yes, Hindi won’t open the flood gate of employment, of course. Don’t you think it will help out the people to find some free-way in Northern region for smooth interaction in their day to day duties in case they posted in Northern regions?
Well, let me share my views on your points. Within quotes are your points and followed by my comments.
“I Had written earlier, in ancient India, where there were over 56 kingdoms, the was no official link language.”
Very true sir. What was the amount of business travelling in those time and business communication compared to the present situation? Most of the business deals are now made through telephonic and email communications and personal visits are surely made if any need be. In those time, there were interpreters to Kings who used help King and business people on the demand. Official language was not a problem at all, however, business dealings were depending on these interpreters. Take the example of British rulers in India. They very quickly learned Hindi and other regional languages to deal with Indians, be it for business or be it for ruling us. Imagine a person transferred frequently every 3-4 years to various regions of the country, one common language will not come to help for such situation? No matter it is for Govt employees or private, we need a common language to promote our daily business and communication within country.
You might ask now that, ‘is it not happening now with English?’ How sad and shame that we revere and give preference to an alien language than the language of the soil. This is absolutely ridiculous to say that Govt promotes Hindi. When an outside language-English is widely used for communication and business dealing, nobody talks about promotion of that language why Hindi then?
“Hindi spoken in UP, if so of which region of UP? Or in Uttarakhand, Himachal, Gujrat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, AP, Telangana, MP, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala? So which Hindi are you speaking about?”
How many styles of Tamil is spoken in Tamil Nadu Sir? Chennai Tamil, Tirunelveli Tamil, Madurai Tamil, Kongu Tamil, Kanyakumari Tamil and even a typical Tamil spoken in Kerala called ‘Palakkad’ Tamil. Now, if any person of this region goes to other region and talks his style of Tamil, can’t the other person understand the language, at least with a bit of difficulties? Has TN made any rule that Madurai Tamil only to be spoken in entire TN for easy understanding and communication? Why you make such meaningless questions to Hindi then?
“Unfortunately, those who advocate Hindi are those whose mother tongue is not Hindi.”
This is the best joke I heard in 2020. If a person from Hindi belt advocates will you not say that he supports just because to promote his mother tongue. Fine, if non-Hindi person supports then you say this kind of dialogue? Sir, actually what is your problem? Is it Hindi or the people who support Hindi?
“The argument that your mother tongue will not be affected because of learning Hindi is erroneous. Same canard was put out when English was introduced in India by Macaulay. Most of us read our Religious texts, Puranas and Itihasas in English.”
Great Sir. Was that Macaulay’s fault or our bloody politicians who lead the Govt after getting the freedom? Why they did not stop using English soon after we get freedom? Have we ever asked when politicians come at our doors for votes? Again, how many of us insist our children to read these texts in their own mother tongue? Don’t you smell the mistakes that took from our side? Why blame outsiders? Where we lost our brains?
“Again, only by learning Hindi one gets employment opportunities, how come Hindi speaking people work in non-Hindi speaking, go there to work?”
Again sir, no one advocates learning Hindi will fetch jobs easily. It is your version of opposing a need of national language. What do you think, they won’t get difficulty in communication in day to day business as non-Hindi people go to Northern regions? You need a better introspection Sir.
“If you say Hindi speakers learn local language, tell me how many speak and write in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali…?”
Why not sir? Have you not seen the Rajasthani and Guajarati learned local languages to run the business? If these people want stay permanently in TN (for example), their children will learn read and write of Tamil too. Rangaraj Pandey of Thanthi TV famous is live example for this, who is basically a Bihari.
“Why Hindi speaking states do not opt to learn other languages, especially from South?”
This is foolish sir. We are in search of one common national language, not promote any regional languages. It is the duty of respective States to promote their language. Sir, you are aware that every University has a language dept. which teaches different languages to the people who are interested. Even those Hindi speaking States Universities also has such language depts. Hindi is chosen only because it is widely spoken and most spoken language in India.
Let me put a hypothetical question to you sir. In the place of Hindi, had it been Tamil there, would you ask these types questions still? Would you ever dared to ask why not Hindi, why Tamil? Your mother tongue is Tamil, you love it. Mine is Telugu, I love it, someone’s is Kannada, he loves it, fine. Why hate some language, because your language is great?
“And a senior Government official says he knows only Hindi and those who do not know Hindi may get out!”
What sir, a single person makes mistake and you blame the entire community and their language? Why you speak child-like? During Hindi agitation in sixties, some of Tamil leaders said, Hindi speaking people have to leave TN. Is TN an integral part of India or not? Had State or Central Govts. Taken any actions on these politicians? It is a slip of tongue and some people in power speak such loose talks. Don’t be serious on these. When such statements repeated again and again, then we have to be serious.
Finally, I might have missed some of your points which are worth to comment from my side. I am not at all supporting Hindi but your allegations are not correctly framed.
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Thank you. Regards.
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Good one Sir. I feel be it whatever language we speak don’t mix English with it. By doing we are not doing good to both languages. I see French speaking fully in his language without mix of English. Same with Japanese, Chinese..etc. why not us ? Mixing English is seen as cool but I couldn’t accept it sir. Anyhow this is different topic from what you have written.
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I agree in principle. But in practice it is difficult. My point is we Will learn of our volition but wary of being forced to learn something .
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Indeed I too agree sir. Imposing is no good.
I am have started with basics of replacing “hello” and “thanks”. I know it won’t change much but They say small drops make an ocean Sir 🙂
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Slavery blood is still exist in few south indians especially one belongs to tamilnadu. They find no problem when English language is being promoted but they make cries when our own indian language hindi is promoted. It is common knowledge that the national language can be one which is spoken by large part of our nation. As hindi language is spoken by many indians communication problems between different States of india can be minimised. No other language fits for this , it doesn’t mean that one language is greater than the other and also learning one extra language can be advantage for us it becomes more advantage when you learn a language which is spoken by most of the people. Jai Hind.
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