Dr. AMBEDKAR PROVES RIGHT
Bangalore: Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Father of India, has said India is not a nation but a country of several nations. (DV Sept. 1 1991 p.17: “India is not yet a nation” – Dr. Ambedkar). The passing of the latest constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament including Nepali, Konkani, and Manipuri in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution proves the truth of Babasaheb’s argument.
With this the number of “national” languages included in the 8th schedule has increased to 18 and that the Constitution has recognised that India has within its bosom 18 “nations”, including the “Hindi” speaking nation.
So, we can’t say Hindi is the role single “national language” of India. When India is not a “nation” how can there be any one” national” language? In a cycle chain, which link is important? Every link is equally important. Because if one link breaks the cycle will not move.
Demand for Tulu: Similarly, if the demand of the speakers of one language, Konkani, is not accepted, they will feel they don’t belong to India.
The Editor of Dalit Voice is a Tulu-speaker and belongs to the coastal Tulu Nadu which has its own “nation identity”. As the President of the Tulu Koota, the organisation of Tulu-speakers in Bangalore for several years, he has been fighting for recognition to Tulu and at last the govt. is realising the importance of Tulu.
Several other linguistic groups will also now press for the recognition of their languages. As Union Home Minister SB Chavan, has pointed out, the govt. is already considering the cases of Bodo, Bhojpuri, Bhutia, English, Kok Borok, Maithili, Rajasthani, Santhali, Tulu and quite a few other languages.
Having made the latest inclusion, it is only a question of time before some of these languages are also considered worthy enough to make the grade.
Sanskrit a dead language: Hindi is “spoken” by 30.4% and the people “forming the largest linguistic group”, followed by Telugu (8.6%). Bengali (7.7%), Marathi (7.6%) and Tamil (7%). The list also includes Sanskrit, as a dead language.
It is a fair enough guess, however, that a quarter of a century will not elapse before more languages are added to the list. The percentages of those speaking the three new languages now in the schedule cannot be too high, but it is obvious that the current trend is to include the languages spoken by distinctive social and cultural groups, irrespective of their size .,
In a way this is a recognition of the immense diversity and ethnic varieties of which the country is justifiably proud, and there is little doubt that the inclusion in the 8th schedule will not only confer greater respectability to the language, but also help in advancing its cause.
