What can bring the politicians of ideologies far apart on the same page? Well, for the politicians of south Indian states it’s the hate for the Hindi language. The recent controversy between Kichcha Sudeep and Ajay Devgn has shed light on the fact that the single biggest unifying factor for the politicians down south is Hindi bashing.
Ajay Devgn and Kichcha Sudeep locked horns over language
Recently, Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kichcha Sudeep locked horns on Twitter. Ajay Devgn did something that no other Hindi cinema actor could ever do. Devgn slammed the Kannada actor over his controversial statement on Hindi and KGF 2.
.@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
Devgn, unlike his Bollywood compatriots who are too afraid to speak about their identity, culture or language owing to political correctness, did not hold back and showed Kichcha Sudeep that playing down Hindi will not be tolerated.
Kichcha wrote in his tweet, that Hindi is no more a national language and that the Hindi film industry is struggling today to find success by dubbing Telugu and Tamil films but it is not happening.
However, major political establishments of the south have chosen to stand by the Kannada actor who was involved in bashing Hindi; a language spoken by the majority of the nation.
Bommai, Siddaramaiah, Kumaraswamy have a common trait: Hate for Hindi
Political opponents of the south Indian states who have ideologies distant apart from each other have one common trait, that is, hatred for Hindi. The recent controversy involving Kichcha Sudeep and Ajay Devgn has brought many prominent politicians across party lines on the same page.
The remarks of all the aforementioned politicians are somewhat similar. Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former CM of the state HD Kumaraswamy came out in support of Kichcha Sudeep and said that there is no fault in Sudeep’s statement when he says that “Hindi is not our national language.”
He also said that Ajay Devgn’s remarks are “not only hyper in nature but also shows his ludicrous behaviour.” Kumaraswamy converted the recent controversy into a tool to attack the central government and blamed the Bhartiya Janta Party for doing language politics, and he also called Devgn a mouthpiece of the BJP’s Hindi Nationalism agenda. Though the politician made some baseless remarks, he made one correct point a large number of the population speaks Hindi.
Just because a large population speaks Hindi, it doesn’t become a National Language. Less than 9 States, Kashmir-Kanyakumari, have Hindi as 2nd, 3rd language or not even that. This being situation what is the truth in Ajay Devgan’s statement? What do you mean by not to dub? 3/7
— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) April 28, 2022
Congress’ Siddaramaiah also had a similar comment and said, “Hindi was never and will never be our national language. It is the duty of every Indian to respect the linguistic diversity of our country. Each language has its own rich history for its people to be proud of. I am proud to be a Kannadiga!!”
What raised the eyebrows was when CM Bommai approved of Sudeep’s statements while making a case for linguistic diversity. According to media reports, Bommai told the Press, “Whatever Sudeep has said is correct. After the formation of states on linguistic basis, languages got importance there (in those regions). That is supreme. The same has been said by Sudeep, which is right. Everyone should accept and respect it.”
Well, other than Hindi bashing which of the other issues could have ever brought these political opponents on the same page who around the year keep squabbling on each and every issue.
Hindi: An orphan language
The recent controversy between Kichcha Sudeep and Ajay Devgn and the unification of the south Indian leaders over the issue has once again proven that Hindi is an orphan language.
Hindi is an orphan language. UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and a large number of people in almost every state speak it yet no state can lay claim to it.
— Atul Mishra (@TheAtulMishra) April 29, 2022
And this is why Hindi Bashing goes unpunished, it doesn’t evoke the same sub-nationalistic sentiments as other regional languages do.
— Atul Mishra (@TheAtulMishra) April 29, 2022
Yes Hindi is not our national language yet most people in the country speak the language. And Hindi cinema is what most people in the country watch.
— Atul Mishra (@TheAtulMishra) April 29, 2022
Despite the huge media attention, the issue gained, none of the big faces came out in support of a widely spoken language in India, that is, Hindi, the reason being though it is spoken in almost every state like Jharkhand, UP, MP, Bihar and is the official language according to the Constitution of India other than English, no state can lay claim on it. And this is the reason that Hindi bashing goes unpunished as it does not evoke the same sub-nationalistic sentiments as other regional languages do.
The south Indian politicians who always go ranting about “Hindi Imposition”, time and again need to read Article 351 of the Indian constitution which states that “It is the duty of the Union to promote the use of Hindi language”. Along with the politicians down south, every Indian needs to understand that every state or say every region has a particular regional language like Kannadigas have Kannada, Tamilians have Tamil, the north Indian states also have region-specific languages like Awadhi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, but the North Indians have implied the Hindi language to establish communication amongst each other.
Simply saying, a push for Hindi shall not be witnessed as a demeaning step toward other regional languages. And Hindi should be promoted as a bridge to overcome the language gap between different states and groups of people.
