New Delhi: The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has issued a circular to all its heads of departments directing its senior officers and staff to give Hindi its due importance.
The circular called Hindi “India’s official language” and directed NDMC officials to write orders and circulars in Hindi, along with English, and to install notice boards and nameplates in Hindi.
The circular cites the Official Language Act, 1963 to say that India’s official language is “Hindi, in the Devanagari script” and that Delhi falls under ‘Region A’ as defined by the law.“ According to this, all official work should be done compulsorily in Hindi,” the Indian Express quoted the circular as saying.
“Thus, following the rules, all heads of departments, officers and workers should issue all office-related circulars, orders, forms, etc in Hindi as well as in English,” the circular, in Hindi and undersigned by NDMC secretary Isha Khosla, reads.
Khosla also said that the 1963 Act will be made available on the Council’s website. While she told the newspaper that the circular was a “routine” process and “nothing new”, NDMC officials which the newspaper spoke to claimed that such documents have not been received before.
This official did, however, mention that some orders and circulars come through in the run-up to ‘Hindi Diwas’, on September 14.
Also read: Hindi, the New Hindutva Weapon of Polarisation
Other officials the newspaper spoke to mentioned that the people of Delhi come from various parts of the country and speak a variety of regional languages. Moreover, they said that NDMC officials themselves come from various cultural backgrounds and not all of them can fluently read and write Hindi.
Ongoing debate on Hindi imposition
Last month, Union home minister Amit Shah had said that Hindi should replace English in Indian states and act as a “unifier” for people who speak in various different local languages.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that the medium of running the government is the Official Language, and this will definitely increase the importance of Hindi. Now the time has come to make the Official Language an important part of the unity of the country,” the home minister had said while presiding over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee.
Shah had also stressed the importance of imparting elementary Hindi education to students up to class 9, pay more attention to Hindi teaching examinations and even suggested that the Hindi dictionary be revised and republished.
The home minister’s comments were met with considerable backlash from opposition leaders, particularly those from India’s southern and eastern states which do not speak Hindi as their first language.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government was accused of ‘Hindi imperialism’ and ‘Hindi imposition’; a debate which has existed for a long time.
Congress leader from Karnataka, Jairam Ramesh, had said at the time that while Hindi may be the “Raj Bhasha” (official language), it is not the “Rashtriya Bhasha” (official language).
Ramesh also said that while he is “comfortable” with Hindi, he does not want it “rammed down anyone’s throat”; a sentiment echoed by another Congress leader, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who said, “ I am a great supporter of Hindi, but not of imposition, not of provocative politics, not of divisive politics,”
Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin, too, took objection with Shah’s remarks, saying the push for Hindi went against India’s ‘integrity and pluralism’ and Sougata Roy, a leader from West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, had said that any attempts to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states would be “resisted”.
“The people of this country, where there is so much diversity, will never accept such a thing,” Roy had saId.
Kiccha Sudeep-Ajay Devgn debate
The debate proceeded to spill over even into the film world after Kannada film actor Kichha Sudeep, while speaking at a launch event for his film, KGF: Chapter 2, had said, “Hindi is no more our national language”.
While Sudeep had made the comment in the context of the original Kannada version of the film earning Rs 850 crore worldwide while its Hindi dub only earned Rs 336 crore.
However, Hindi film actor Ajay Devgn took objection to Sudeep’s comments and tagged him in a tweet in which he said, “Hindi is, was, and always will be our national language.”
.@KicchaSudeep मेरे भाई,
आपके अनुसार अगर हिंदी हमारी राष्ट्रीय भाषा नहीं है तो आप अपनी मातृभाषा की फ़िल्मों को हिंदी में डब करके क्यूँ रिलीज़ करते हैं?
हिंदी हमारी मातृभाषा और राष्ट्रीय भाषा थी, है और हमेशा रहेगी।
जन गण मन ।— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) April 27, 2022
India does not have a national language, and Hindi and Kannada are among the 22 languages listed in the eighth schedule of the constitution.
In addition, what many commentators found strange was Devgn’s use of Devnagri script for the slam – something that Sudeep as an actor of the south could be assumed to be unfamiliar with.
The online exchange, however, ostensibly resolved itself amicably, with both actors chalking it up to a misunderstanding and concluding that all of the country’s languages should be respected.
However, Devgn’s erroneous claim that Hindi is India’s national language drew responses from several people, including former Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Ajaya Devgan’s blabbered as a mouth piece of BJP’s Hindi Nationalism of one nation, one tax, one language & one government. 5/7
— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) April 28, 2022
After correcting Devgn in terms of fact, Kumaraswamy, in a seven-tweet thread, accused “Hindi-based political parties” of making a concerted effort to destroy the county’s regional languages. He also called Devgn a “mouthpiece of BJP’s Hindi nationalism”.
Another former Karnataka chief minister, Congress leader Siddaramaiah, quote-tweeted Devgn’s post and wrote, “Hindi was never and will never be our national language”.
