Debate Still Goes on...

Statement by Hon. Amid Shaw would make wise people only guffaw!

- Jyothirllata Girija

It’s learnt that our Home Minister, Amid Shaw, has twittered some time back that Hindi alone has unified India. Any sane person would only fall down laughing at this fallacious statement. Some time back, he announced that India should have only one language being one nation, apparently meaning that Hindi should be that language. India is one nation, no doubt. But how could anyone digest the statement that there should be only one language in a country comprising people speaking umpteen languages?

It was English and English alone that has united India gradually, ever since the advent of the British who started ruling over it that was scattered with numerous small kingdoms. Even a person with elementary knowledge of our freedom struggle will be aware of this. After their exit too, India has progressed to a great extent in science and technology, indisputably, as English could not be replaced with Hindi due to the strong protest by the people of several states – the strongest being that of Tamil Nadu and Bengal.

India have able to achieve international fame in many fields only due to retention of English. No doubt, English is a foreign language. But the BJP people are every now and then bragging about the noblest Hindu philosophy, “Vasudeva Kutumbakam,” which means the “whole world should be considered as a single-family.” These people who talk about this philosophy conveniently ignore the fact that it is only English that has unified not only our country but also the entire world and made it “Vasudeva Kutumbakam” having become the universal lingua franca. Those who’re harping upon Hindi becoming our sole official language should, willy-nilly, swallow this pill howsoever unpalatable it may be.

A RETROGRADE MOTION