Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent statement to make Hindi compulsory in schools till Class 10 in the whole Northeast region has caused much anger among the indigenous communities of the region. Various organisations, including political parties in Manipur and Assam, have bitterly opposed the move. The powerful North East Students’ Organisation, a conglomeration of eight student bodies opposing the decision said it will be detrimental to the indigenous languages and create disharmony. The Northeast is one of the most diverse regions of India. Various ethnic groups who speak different languages live here.
In Arunachal Pradesh itself, there are 26 major tribes and more than 100 sub-tribes. The UNESCO has listed the majority of languages of Arunachal as endangered. Hindi has become dominant and this is leading to the dying of the tribal languages. Even in Assam, languages like Bengali and Hindi are becoming a threat to the Assamese language. Likewise, there are several ethnic groups in the NE region whose languages are facing serious threats. The imposition of Hindi will accelerate the death of these endangered languages. Instead of imposing Hindi, the government of India should make efforts to save the dying indigenous languages of the NE region. The attempt to impose Hindi will further alienate the people of the region from mainland India.