After union Home Minister Amit Shah’s push for making Hindi the common language of India, the southern states have strongly opposed the suggestion. Even his own party man and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has said there will be no compromise on the language issue and that Kannada will be given first preference. Tamil Nadu and Kerala too have opposed Shah’s push for Hindi. The BJP’s move to push Hindi as the common language is political in nature. The party intends to hold onto its grip on the Hindi heartland.
Especially with the Haryana election round the corner, which will be followed by the crucial UP election, the BJP is making efforts to take maximum political mileage. The imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speakers is against the values enshrined in the constitution. Large sections of Indians are not Hindi speakers, and imposing a new language on them will be a threat to their existence. Arunachal Pradesh is a classic example of how imposition of Hindi is threatening the existence of the indigenous tribal languages. As per the UNESCO, almost all the major tribe languages of the state are on the verge of extinction. Today, a majority of young Arunachalees cannot speak in their own mother tongues and prefer to converse in Hindi. If this trend continues for another decade, all the tribal languages will probably become extinct. Therefore, instead of imposing Hindi, the government of India should protect the indigenous languages of India.