Language as an Identity: Hindi and Provincial Languages in Colonial India
Language is an inherent part of an individual’s identity. Any attempt to subjugate that identity is vehemently resisted by the people. In India, Hindi is not only seen as a language per se but also linked with North Indian Hindus. In the past, the introduction and imposition of Hindi in non-Hindi-speaking states, mainly Tamil Nadu, had faced strong opposition. Since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Hindu Nationalist Party—Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)—elected to power in May 2014, the union government has taken measures to what it calls promoting the use of the Hindi language in India. These measures have been strongly resisted in the non-Hindi-speaking states of the country. This article looks at the debates between Hindi and non-Hindi speakers since the years of the anti-colonial movement in India. It examines the character of the movement to promote Hindi and the resistance against the Hindi movements in India. This article also discusses the demands for language-based states in India. In this paper, the author argues that in the non-Hindi-speaking states, Hindi is mainly looked at as a means to subsume and suppress the native’s identity. To protect their linguistic identity, which is inextricably intertwined with other identities, people in non-Hindi-speaking areas have protested in past and also resist such attempts in present.