To counter Centre’s Hindi push, writer GN Devy meets Stalin to promote other languages

Fueling opposition of the ‘One Nation One Language’ policy proposed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, renowned writer and Padma Shri awardee GN Devy met with DMK President MK Stalin on Saturday. The meeting was held to discuss the creation of a united cultural front aimed at promoting ancient Indian languages other than Hindi and Sanskrit.

The meeting took place in Chennai as a delegation led by GN Devy, who is Chairman of Peoples’ Linguistic Survey of India, met MK Stalin and DMK leader A Raja to discuss the creation of a united pan-Dravidian, Prakrit and Pali Language and Cultural Front. The delegation included Kapil Patil, MLC from Maharashtra, Atul Deshmukh, General Secretary, Rashtra Seva Dal, and Professor Surekha Devy. The Front will function as a group “which will include most of the scheduled languages and several hundred non-Scheduled languages from the North-East, states like Bengal, Orissa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, etc., the Central Tribal Belt, and all the southern States,” according to a press release.

It was collectively agreed that the group would “truly represent the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution in terms of diversity and pluralism.”

Speaking to TNM about the proposal, GN Devy, who is also chief of the Rashtra Seva Dal, said the “mosaic of Indian culture” is valid only when we put all languages together. Stating that Hindi is spoken by one in four persons in India, he said, “Out of 121 crore population as per 2011 census, 33 crore speak Hindi, which means out of every four Indians, one speaks Hindi. It is a great thing, I respect that language. But three persons do not speak Hindi. It means that three-fourth of India has (linguistic) legacy from Prakrit, Pali and Tamil. We need to understand the mosaic of Indian culture in terms of a diversity, which cannot think of one nation, one language formula anytime — now or in the future.”

Elaborating on the plan, GN Devy said that the Front would conduct meetings in every state and every language. “This is not something that will be tied to any particular party. I thought of the DMK for role to play in this because soon after independence, when we were talking about linguistic groups, the language movement in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, among others, played a constructive role in making the state reorganisation realistic,” he explained.

Noting that the Front would work through campaigning, popular education, publications, discussions and meetings, GN Devy categorically stated that the Front would not engage in any form of agitations or protests to achieve its goals.

The press note also stated that the Front would possibly be launched in Chennai early next year, in a mega event led by Stalin.

On September 14, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had openly pushed for Hindi as the national language. Under the pretext of celebrating Hindi Diwas, he said that it is important for the nation to have one language that it is identified around the world and that only Hindi can unite India. Urging the citizens to use their mother tongues as well as the Hindi language more often, Amit Shah said that it would contribute to realising the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.

This comment drew criticism from a slew of regional leaders including, MK Stalin, MNM Chief Kamal Haasan, former Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi. Language