Hindi as a Link Language
September 23, 2024
India has a rich linguistic diversity, with numerous regional languages spoken across the country. This diversity can sometimes pose challenges for communication and unity. Hindi, being widely spoken and understood in many parts of India, can act as a common ground for people to interact and communicate. Hindi as a Link Language refers to the idea that Hindi could serve as a common language for communication between people who speak different regional languages within India. It’s a language that can bridge the linguistic gaps and facilitate understanding among people from various parts of the country.
Arguments for Hindi as a Link Language
- Large Hindi Speaking Population: The large Hindi-speaking population, estimated at 30.4% of India’s population in the 1961 census, acts as a strong force for spreading Hindi, especially because of the economic opportunities it creates. Hindi” is an umbrella term encompassing 56 languages (mother tongues) including Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Hindi and Chhattisgarhi.
- Hindi also serves as a lingua franca in many parts of India, especially in the north, and in marketplaces, railways, and religious pilgrimages even in non-Hindi speaking regions.
- Religious and Cultural Influence: Hindi’s association with Hinduism, particularly its use in religious texts and hymns, helps its spread. Important Hindu poets like Kabir, Tulsidas, and Mirabai, writing in Hindi, are revered across India. Urdu serves a similar role for Muslims, adding to Hindi’s spread in areas with Muslim populations.
- Identity of the nation: Lack of understanding of each other’s language is held to create distance between individuals and communities, which impacts social cohesion and prevent generating social capital. The entire country must have one language that becomes the identity of the nation for social cohesion. If there is any language that can tie the whole country in one thread, it is the most spoken language
- Economic dimensions: Having a language that is spoken and understood by all the people of a country is beneficial from the economic standpoint as it will provide for effective communication, open up new markets and improve trust between the seller and buyer.
- Constitutional mandate: A holistic reading of Part 17 of the Constitution, the Official Language Act 1963, various policies and schemes of the government make it clear that there is a strong mandate for promoting Hindi. The idea of a link language is one approach in this direction.
- Gandhian view: Mahatma Gandhi, during the freedom struggle, had described Hindi as the national language and called for its adoption and many members of the Constituent Assembly echoed such sentiments.
- Ease of Learning Hindi: Hindi is considered relatively easy to learn due to its phonetic Devanagari script and its grammatical simplicity, which is shared with other Indian languages. This makes it accessible to speakers of Dravidian languages in the south, though learning Hindi still poses some challenges, particularly in identifying noun genders.
Issues in Imposition of Hindi as a link language:
- Hindi vs HDI: A comparison of the Human Development Index (HDI) of States and UTs shows that regions with a higher share of English speakers also have higher HDI scores, while States with a higher share of Hindi speakers have relatively low HDI scores. This means there is a positive correlation between a higher standard of living and a higher share of English speakers.
- More people from the Hindi-speaking States have been migrating towards the non-Hindi speaking regions in search of better livelihoods. For example, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh who have the largest Hindi speaking population recorded higher net out-migration.
- To summarise, relatively more people from Hindi-speaking States migrate to non-Hindi States, and there is a strong correlation between a region’s HDI and a higher share of English speakers. This suggests a stronger case for English to be the link language rather than Hindi
- Preference for English as a Link Language: Although, 43.63% of the total population said their mother tongue was Hindi, only people in only 12 out of 35 States and Union Territories had overwhelmingly chosen Hindi as the first choice for communication. Among the rest, while a few chose Hindi as their second or third language of communication, a majority of them chose English, according to the results of the 2011 language Census released in 2018.
- Linguistic Hegemony and Power Elites: The imposition of Hindi is seen not just as a linguistic issue, but as an attempt to establish cultural dominance over non-Hindi regions. In states like Tamil Nadu, this is seen as an act of cultural imperialism, where the identity, heritage, and autonomy of non-Hindi regions are undermined. Paul Brass, who has studied the politics of language in India, explains how the imposition of a national language (like Hindi) in a multilingual state can provoke ethnic and linguistic mobilization, leading to a sense of political and cultural alienation.
- Marginalization of Regional Languages: Imposing Hindi as a national link language risks the marginalization of regional languages, which serve as crucial vehicles of knowledge, culture, and local politics. This leads to the linguistic subordination of non-Hindi speakers, creating a hierarchy where Hindi enjoys superior status, and other languages are relegated to secondary importance.
- Economic and Educational Inequalities: The imposition of Hindi also creates unequal opportunities in education and employment. In many non-Hindi states, students are forced to learn Hindi to qualify for central government jobs or pass national exams, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to native Hindi speakers. The “cultural capital” associated with Hindi becomes an exclusionary tool, privileging Hindi speakers in government jobs and educational institutions, further entrenching socio-economic inequalities.
Sociological Perspectives on Imposition of Hindi
- According to Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action, democratic societies should foster an environment where communication is free from coercion and promotes mutual understanding. The imposition of Hindi can be seen as violating the principle of communicative rationality, where language is not freely chosen by individuals but is mandated by the state. This creates a hierarchy within the public sphere, privileging Hindi speakers while marginalizing others
- Gramsci’s idea of cultural hegemony also suggest that the imposition of Hindi is a means of manufacturing consent, where the dominance of one language is normalized, making the cultural influence of the Hindi heartland stronger across India.
- Benedict Anderson’s concept of “imagined communities” explains how nations are constructed through shared languages and symbols. For Anderson, the development of a national identity is often closely linked to the rise of a common language. The imposition of Hindi can be seen as part of the Indian state’s attempt to build an “imagined community” based on a shared language
- From a functionalist viewpoint, the imposition of Hindi could be framed as an attempt by the state to achieve greater integration and social cohesion through a common language. However, the backlash against Hindi suggests that such policies are dysfunctional for regions with strong linguistic identities, as they create division rather than unity
Language is not just a medium of communication but a powerful tool of identity formation, cultural preservation, and political control. The promotion of Hindi as the national language, while intended to foster unity and efficient governance, risks marginalizing non-Hindi linguistic groups and creating a hierarchy of languages that undermines the egalitarian principles of India’s federal system. Though Hindi is the official language of India, according to Constitution the states may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the state or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that state.
