In New India, we are currently witnessing a raging debate on language supremacy and on adopting Hindi as a key language to learn and communicate even in Non- Hindi speaking states and regions. This discourse serves the parochial approach of so-called nationalists to further cement their position in Hindi belt, which has always played a key role in any government formation
They do not realize that, blessed we are, to have a wonderful bouquet of so many languages. Every hundred odd miles brings up a rich diversity of different cultures, food habits and dialects. Why on earth they want to spoil this beauty, with narrow minded attempts of homogeneity?
Meanwhile, we continue to witness a marked decline in the quality of discourse by our elected representatives, while communicating in the language they use. There is now a very thin line between what is acceptable and what is hateful and seditious. Dignity during conversation, has no place in New India as the competition is between a level which is deemed acceptable by law enforcement agencies and not considered acceptable by law.
The emphasis on “Dignity of Language” has entirely lost focus and has ceased to be relevant any more. Gone are the days, when the political scene was dominated by mature and seasoned parliamentarians from all parties, who have given us a legacy of excellent debate culture and art of public discourse.
New India abounds with real life examples, which clearly depicts the rapid decline in dignity of public discourse
We have seen our current Prime Minister (Gujarat CM at that time) utter sentence like “Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ka girlfriend ( Wow ! What a girlfriend! Have you ever seen a 50 Crore Girlfriend) during an election rally in 2012. Same level of discourse is seen in his address during other rallies, after he became PM, when he stated that Protestors can be identified by the clothes they wear or while making oblique references to Kabristan and Shamshaan in election rallies. His “Didi O Didi” rants in election rallies at the time of West Bengal Assembly elections too were applauded by his followers.
Not be left behind, other party members also followed suit. In 2015, we had then Cultural Minister, Sh Mahesh Sharma make a statement that “Despite being a Muslim”, APJ Abdul Kalam “was a great nationalist and humanist,”. The irony was that he was subsequent allotted the residence, which was once occupied by Hon Sh. APJ Abdul Kalam.
You would have all heard the now infamous “Desh ke Gadaron ko….” From Minister of State Sh. Anurag Thakur. This has now become a sort of Nursery Rhyme for hate mongers. Not sure what they will graduate to from here. Kapil Mishra and Pravesh Varma too, contributed their own bit with their hateful utterances in Delhi.
Himanta Biswas Sarma stated in his speech in Feb 2022 “The Congress asked for proof of surgical strikes, authenticity of vaccine. Did we ever ask proof from Rahul Gandhi of being Rajiv Gandhi’s son?”
These are just few amongst many examples and that too from leaders, who hold constitutional positions. You will also come across numerous such instances in venomous Prime Time debates in various News Channels every day. What this goes on to do, is to qualify such discourse as Normal and this then percolates down to the society, of which, all of us are an integral part. Be prepared for this to become a part of our conversation as well and this worrying change is already visible on ground.
Dr. Kafeel Khan gave a speech at Aligarh Muslim University on 10th Dec,2019. Please spend some time in reading or listening to the full text here. As an aftermath of this speech, he had to spend seven months in jail until Allahabad High Court exonerated him by saying
“A complete reading of the speech nowhere threatens peace and tranquillity of the city of Aligarh. The address gives a call for national integrity and unity among the citizens. The speech also deprecates any kind of violence. It appears that the District Magistrate had selective reading and selective mention for few phrases from the speech ignoring its true intent,”
A nice outcome, but what about the seven months which an innocent citizen had to spend in jail??
In these times, it is indeed ironic to see our political figures pushing for a uniform language or trying to divide the political space. One fellow in Uttar Pradesh, went on to exhort, that People who do not speak Hindi, should not stay in India. Not sure, if any action was taken against him.
What should be the focus of politics and politicians? Should they not be working towards encouraging debates, dialogue and conversation irrespective of language in which it is conducted? Should they not set examples of “Dignity in Conversation” for everyone to follow?
Should we as citizens not reject such low levels of discourse being resorted to by our elected representatives? Is it not painfully apparent that they continue to stoop to such levels because we as citizens are accepting it??
We should be talking about love, trust, humanity and respect for all. These are deep emotions which get amplified wonderfully by sensible actions and transcend beyond all languages. Instead our politicians continue to engage in their shallow narrative of one National Language ?
Just Thinking!!