Amid the language debate over Hindi, Uttar Pradesh Minister Sanjay Nishad has stirred a fresh row by claiming that those who do not love Hindi are ‘foreigners’ and that those who do not speak Hindi should “leave India” and settle elsewhere. The Uttar Pradesh Fisheries Minister was responding to a media query on the language debate that has yet again come to the fore following the Twitter exchange between Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep.
Speaking to the media, Minister Sanjay Nishad said, “Those who want to live in India should love Hindi. If you do not love Hindi, it will be assumed that you are a foreigner or are linked to foreign powers. We respect regional languages, but this country is one, and India’s Constitution says, that India is ‘Hindustan’ which means a place for Hindi speakers. Hindustan is not a place for those who don’t speak Hindi. They should leave this country and go somewhere else.”
It must be noted that according to Article 343 of the Constitution and a later amendment, Hindi is recognised as an official language along with English. India does not have a national language. An official language is a language that is used by the government. States can also designate a language as their official language. The official language of Tamil Nadu is Tamil, and the official language of West Bengal is Bengali.
The row over Hindi began with Ajay Devgn’s tweet to Kiccha Sudeep over the latter’s remarks on the success of KGF: Chapter 2. A few days ago, Sudeep had hinted that Bollywood was trying to capitalise on audiences from the south by dubbing and releasing films in south Indian languages and that Hindi is “no longer the national language.” As a response, Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn — who incidentally, recently starred in Rajamouli’s film RRR — took exception to it.
Taking to Twitter, Ajay Devgn tweeted in Hindi and asked Sudeep that if so, why Kannada movies are dubbed in Hindi. “My brother, according to you Hindi is not our national language, then why are movies dubbed in your mother tongue. Hindi is our mother tongue and national language, and will always remain so. Jana Gana Mana,” Ajay Devgn tweeted. It is to be noted that Hindi is not India's national language, it is an official language, as is English.
Ajay Devgn was responding to a statement made by the Kannada star at the launch of the film R: The Deadliest Gangster Ever, where he was speaking about the wide success of KGF: Chapter 2, which was released recently. “You said that a pan India film was made in Kannada. I’d like to make a small correction. Hindi is no more a national language. They (Bollywood) are doing pan-India films today. They are struggling (to find success) by dubbing in Telugu and Tamil, but it’s not happening. Today we are making films that are going everywhere," Sudeep said.
This Twitter exchange prompted a big debate on social media and also took a political turn as two former Karnataka Chief Ministers — Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy — defended Sudeep and lashed out at Devgn.
Earlier this month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also triggered a debate by suggesting that people from different states should speak to each other in Hindi and that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly designated Sanjay Nishad as a BJP minister. The error is regretted.