The Consequences of Linguistic Chauvinism

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The Consequences of Linguistic Chauvinism

India should note the lessons of Pakistan’s failed language policy.


By Sanjay Kumar
June 28, 2014

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The Bengali language movement of 1952 laid the foundations for the future division of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. The movement, which was a protest against the imposition of Urdu by the Pakistani government on a predominantly Bengali speaking region, ignited raw passions among a population already dissatisfied with their country’s political leadership, which was dominated by West Pakistanis.
This blatant disregard for linguistic diversity set in motion a chain of events from whose impact Pakistan was not able to recover. The division of Pakistan in 1971 was the culmination of the conflict between its two halves that started with the Bengali language movement. The imposition of a single language in a linguistically diverse country proved to be its undoing and led to much suffering.
Contrary to Pakistan, India’s language policy was built on the principle of “unity in diversity.” India has adopted this policy because it has learned from the lessons of the past. Past attempts by India to impose linguistic uniformity had stirred regional passions and destabilized several states. In the 1960s, when New Delhi tried to impose Hindi as the sole official language of the Indian union, non-Hindi speaking areas vehemently opposed this. Anti-Hindi sentiment was particularly strong in the Southern state of Tamil Nadu, where Tamil is spoken. Protests against the imposition of Hindi lead to the loss of over 50 lives in Tamil Nadu, as a result of the Indian government’s attempt to mandate that all communication between state governments and the central government be in Hindi. The situation was diffused when the Indian government relented and allowed the indefinite use of English as well as Hindi as official languages of the central government.
Any attempt to homogenize India’s linguistic diversity has met with strong resistance throughout the country. India is facing a similar threat today as the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s instructions to promote Hindi on social media. Modi’s government issued a circular to this effect soon after coming to power last month. Politicians in Tamil Nadu reacted very strongly against this policy. A prominent Tamil politician warned the government that it should not do anything that would awaken a sleeping tiger.
Linguistic politics have always been a sleeping tiger for India and any move towards the sole implementation of one language has always been met with protests. Hindi and its variants are spoken by 45 percent of the Indian population, according to the 2001 census. It is widely spoken and understood across North India, where it serves as a lingua franca. Most of India’s Prime Ministers and leaders have come from Hindi speaking regions and it is understandable that they have been advancing Hindi.
However, there is some evidence to suggest that language is no longer the big issue it used to be. After decades of resistance against Hindi, even Hindi speakers realized the futility of this linguistic chauvinism and understood the importance of English as the language of opportunity in a globalized world. Conversely, some of the South Indian aversion towards Hindi has lessened. The opening up of the Indian economy two decades ago created many new job opportunities and career options which led to the movement of people all over India, and many people from North India have moved to South India. This has habituated inhabitants of states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to the Hindi language and Hindi speakers. It was rare a decade ago to find Hindi speakers in Tamil cities such as Chennai, but today it is fairly common. The national popularity of Bollywood, India’s Hindi film industry, has also made Hindi more acceptable to younger non-Hindi speakers. As a result, resistance to Hindi is much less than it was before.
It is therefore baffling as to why the new government in New Delhi is so particular about promoting a language which has been gaining popularity naturally. Explicitly promoting Hindi to the exclusion of other languages has the potential to open up old wounds among non-Hindi speakers. Perhaps this is related to the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)’s tendency to want to create a more uniform state.
In the 1950s, Pakistan believed that promoting a single language, chosen by the dominant group, would create a strong, unified republic. It believed that diversity is a weakness and not a strength of a pluralistic society. Unfortunately, this idea led to the breakup of Pakistan. On the other hand, India promoted and preserved pluralism and multiculturism and flourished. If India forgets this, it may have negative consequences for the country.

http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/the-consequences-of-linguistic-chauvinism/

[MENTION=1058]Bengal_Tiger[/MENTION] [MENTION=1201]Toramana[/MENTION]

[Herat]

A nice article (tough it is doubtful as to the extent that language alone was the cause of the break-up of earlier Pakistan), especially the remarks on promoting a global lingua-franca -English- as an alternative to linguistically homogenizing ethnically diverse nations (an endeavour guaranteed to foment ethnic animosity). In an ideal world, we would have invented a completely neutral language from scratch for a global lingua-franca but considering the failure of Esperanto, whether we like it or not, at this point there is no alternative to English. These days you often see people naively predicting that Mandarin Chinese will replace the role of English, tough predicated on the correct expectation of China's growing power and influence. The problem with that contingency (aside from the fact that for linguistic reasons English is far easier to learn for most of the world than is Chinese) is that it's basically too late, right now there are more people in China learning English than there are people learning Mandarin worldwide. The momentum English has gained, something that has been going on for at least 2 centuries now, in international communication in Business, Science and now the Internet has all but assured its inexorable role as the global lingua-franca of the future.

It would be wise for both Pakistan and Afghanistan (and the rest of the world in general actually) to follow India's lead in promoting English as a national lingua-franca. In the case of Afghanistan, this would alleviate the idiotic conflict over language: non-Pashtuns as well as Pashtuns both need to stop promoting Pashto/Dari as the medium of communication for the entire country. At the same time, English will provide Afghans with more immediate access to international standards of literature and information. I say this as a Tajik: I think it is a burden for Pashtuns to learn Dari (the opposite doesn't happen and probably will not happen in the future), I do sympathetically support you in your endeavour to preserve and consolidate your own language and culture. If we could agree to turn to English as a second language, it would be mutually beneficial and I think, in the long run, a far more productive state of affairs even for our mother tongues than the current idiocy over Pashto/Dari.

[Khostai]

A nice article (tough it is doubtful as to the extent that language alone was the cause of the break-up of earlier Pakistan), especially the remarks on promoting a global lingua-franca -English- as an alternative to linguistically homogenizing ethnically diverse nations (an endeavour guaranteed to foment ethnic animosity). In an ideal world, we would have invented a completely neutral language from scratch for a global lingua-franca but considering the failure of Esperanto, whether we like it or not, at this point there is no alternative to English. These days you often see people naively predicting that Mandarin Chinese will replace the role of English, tough predicated on the correct expectation of China's growing power and influence. The problem with that contingency (aside from the fact that for linguistic reasons English is far easier to learn for most of the world than is Chinese) is that it's basically too late, right now there are more people in China learning English than there are people learning Mandarin worldwide. The momentum English has gained, something that has been going on for at least 2 centuries now, in international communication in Business, Science and now the Internet has all but assured its inexorable role as the global lingua-franca of the future.

It would be wise for both Pakistan and Afghanistan (and the rest of the world in general actually) to follow India's lead in promoting English as a national lingua-franca. In the case of Afghanistan, this would alleviate the idiotic conflict over language: non-Pashtuns as well as Pashtuns both need to stop promoting Pashto/Dari as the medium of communication for the entire country. At the same time, English will provide Afghans with more immediate access to international standards of literature and information. I say this as a Tajik: I think it is a burden for Pashtuns to learn Dari (the opposite doesn't happen and probably will not happen in the future), I do sympathetically support you in your endeavour to preserve and consolidate your own language and culture. If we could agree to turn to English as a second language, it would be mutually beneficial and I think, in the long run, a far more productive state of affairs even for our mother tongues than the current idiocy over Pashto/Dari.

Is that the reason why Tajiks forgot there own language and adopted Farsi and persian culture? And now you want to switch to english and western culture? Being a culturless ethnic group this is easy to achive, becuase you tajiks have no own culture you copied the Persians of Iran.
But for Pashtuns it is a difrent case, English is important and we will teach it, but language is a part of your identity plus a sertain knowledge get lost if you replace and promote difrent language and forget your own.

I think it would be better in the future if Afghanistan just teach two languages English and Pashtu, becuase it is clear that Tajiks don't care that much about Farsi, becuase it is a foreign language to them. So this way it would be a win win situation for everyone in Afghanistan.

[Herat]

Is that the reason why Tajiks forgot there own language and adopted Farsi and persian culture? And now you want to switch to english and western culture? Being a culturless ethnic group this is easy to achive, becuase you tajiks have no own culture you copied the Persians of Iran.
But for Pashtuns it is a difrent case, English is important and we will teach it, but language is a part of your identity plus a sertain knowledge get lost if you replace and promote difrent language and forget your own.

I think it would be better in the future if Afghanistan just teach two languages English and Pashtu, becuase it is clear that Tajiks don't care that much about Farsi, becuase it is a foreign language to them. So this way it would be a win win situation for everyone in Afghanistan.

In retrospect, the previous post was truly bizarre, I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Tough notice that I did put the precursory point of the need for a global lingua-franca first, the point of that was to pre-empt the knee-jerk reactions of primitive, ethnocentric minds like yours. Anyhow, all of this discussion is pointless because lets face the writing on the wall friend, Afghanistan is going to survive half a century at best and glory be to the flying spaghetti monster for that because we can't live together anymore and deep down, I think you and I both know that we don't want to either.

Don't worry, for the sake of the others, I won't insult your people (you insulted mine) more than is necessary to put you in your place. First of all, tough I do willingly submit to my ethnic group (the Tajiks) and do endeavour to advance what I perceive as their long term group interests, I consciously do my best to avoid the psychological pitfalls of ethnocentrism, most prominently that one about the consecration of the group. You see, I love my people but I don't see anything holy about our ethnicity, about our history or our "culture".

Moreover, indeed I have a very different set of values in general and the standards of respectability of peoples in particular, than is common in our part of the world. The most important criteria of respectability for me is scientific, technological and intellectual contributions to humanity. So you see, Ashkenazi Jews (tough I do detest their treatment of the Palestinians) and the English would be at the top of my admiration list and Pashtuns and Tajiks would both be at the bottom. If you want to me impress me, you better produce Einstein and Salk or Newton and Darwin. I don't give a rats arse about tribal "honour", being militarily "undefeated" and whatnot that you take pride in. I abhor men of war with every inch of my being, hatred for violence is a part of my soul, for its votaries in my blood. And, unfortunately, I think I have insulted you far more than necessary but I have recently started perusing the past posts of this forum and the more I see what you guys have written about my people in the past, the more I am losing my restraining efforts of not offending people here.

[Khostai]

In retrospect, the previous post was truly bizarre, I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Tough notice that I did put the precursory point of the need for a global lingua-franca first, the point of that was to pre-empt the knee-jerk reactions of primitive, ethnocentric minds like yours. Anyhow, all of this discussion is pointless because lets face the writing on the wall friend, Afghanistan is going to survive half a century at best and glory be to the flying spaghetti monster for that because we can't live together anymore and deep down, I think you and I both know that we don't want to either.

Don't worry, for the sake of the others, I won't insult your people (you insulted mine) more than is necessary to put you in your place. First of all, tough I do willingly submit to my ethnic group (the Tajiks) and do endeavour to advance what I perceive as their long term group interests, I consciously do my best to avoid the psychological pitfalls of ethnocentrism, most prominently that one about the consecration of the group. You see, I love my people but I don't see anything holy about our ethnicity, about our history or our "culture".

Moreover, indeed I have a very different set of values in general and the standards of respectability of peoples in particular, than is common in our part of the world. The most important criteria of respectability for me is scientific, technological and intellectual contributions to humanity. So you see, Ashkenazi Jews (tough I do detest their treatment of the Palestinians) and the English would be at the top of my admiration list and Pashtuns and Tajiks would both be at the bottom. If you want to me impress me, you better produce Einstein and Salk or Newton and Darwin. I don't give a rats arse about tribal "honour", being militarily "undefeated" and whatnot that you take pride in. I abhor men of war with every inch of my being, hatred for violence is a part of my soul, for its votaries in my blood. And, unfortunately, I think I have insulted you far more than necessary but I have recently started perusing the past posts of this forum and the more I see what you guys have written about my people in the past, the more I am losing my restraining efforts of not offending people here.

Boehoe cry me a river, I didn't know that somebody who claims to think difrently can be so easily offended by just stating the truth that Tajiks don't have there own language or culture, that is also the reason why you people are so easaly impressed by others who are in your eyes supirior to you. In the past that were the Persians and there empire and today are the Western Europe and the jews....

The thing that I or any other Pashtun say on this forum or the internet in general is nothing in comparison what your ethnofascist say all the time.

[tripledouble]

Boehoe cry me a river, I didn't know that somebody who claims to think difrently can be so easily offended by just stating the truth that Tajiks don't have there own language or culture, that is also the reason why you people are so easaly impressed by others who are in your eyes supirior to you. In the past that were the Persians and there empire and today are the Western Europe and the jews....

The thing that I or any other Pashtun say on this forum or the internet in general is nothing in comparison what your ethnofascist say all the time.

This guy [MENTION=17960]Herat[/MENTION] seems really rational and articulate, I think you need to grow up and improve your debate skills.

[Herat]

Boehoe cry me a river, I didn't know that somebody who claims to think difrently can be so easily offended by just stating the truth that Tajiks don't have there own language or culture, that is also the reason why you people are so easaly impressed by others who are in your eyes supirior to you. In the past that were the Persians and there empire and today are the Western Europe and the jews....

The thing that I or any other Pashtun say on this forum or the internet in general is nothing in comparison what your ethnofascist say all the time.

All the more reason for our separation, death to Afghanistan (yimakh shemo, I invoke the Jewish curse, after all don't your tribal people take pride in being Israelites: may the accursed name of Afghanistan be obliterated)! Oh how I wish there was a mass exodus of the non-Pashtuns into the land plentiful Tajikistan so that you Pashtuns can stew in your beloved land of death ("the graveyard of empires"), oh superior one! There is nothing more in the world that I wish for than the partition of Afghanistan (yimakh shemo!).

I have never personally insulted you in this forum, in fact I had a modicum of respect for you prior to this encounter and yet you came to this thread for no apparent reason other than to provoke me, well now here is what you wish for! After having perused the past posts of even your otherwise respectful members, I will no longer uphold my precept of not involving myself in ethnic fights. An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot! After all don't you pathetic people take pride in being descendents of those murderous, genocidal ancient tribal Israelites?

[25tajik75pashtun]

[MENTION=17960]Herat[/MENTION] a partition will never happen, even the most ethnocentric and fascistic of people in afghanistan will laugh off such a possibility

[tripledouble]

[MENTION=17960]Herat[/MENTION] a partition will never happen, even the most ethnocentric and fascistic of people in afghanistan will laugh off such a possibility

Well if Afghanistan keeps rooting for Pakistan's partition, then it is likely that it would partition too, but as long as Pakistan's in tact so will Afghanistan;Afghan nationalists can take a sigh of relief because Pakistan has nukes, so it would take at least a century to disintegrate(non guarantees that it would).

[Khostai]

All the more reason for our separation, death to Afghanistan (yimakh shemo, I invoke the Jewish curse, after all don't your tribal people take pride in being Israelites: may the accursed name of Afghanistan be obliterated)! Oh how I wish there was a mass exodus of the non-Pashtuns into the land plentiful Tajikistan so that you Pashtuns can stew in your beloved land of death ("the graveyard of empires"), oh superior one! There is nothing more in the world that I wish for than the partition of Afghanistan (yimakh shemo!).

I have never personally insulted you in this forum, in fact I had a modicum of respect for you prior to this encounter and yet you came to this thread for no apparent reason other than to provoke me, well now here is what you wish for! After having perused the past posts of even your otherwise respectful members, I will no longer uphold my precept of not involving myself in ethnic fights. An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot! After all don't you pathetic people take pride in being descendents of those murderous, genocidal ancient tribal Israelites?

You can dream on, but remeber dreams are only illusions. And I don't know any pashtun that I have met in real live who claims to be descandant of Israely tribe, but I guess you have never met a pashtun in your life, or went to Afghanistan lol. That is also the reason for you **** that you spew the whole time.

[Khostai]

Well if Afghanistan keeps rooting for Pakistan's partition, then it is likely that it would partition too, but as long as Pakistan's in tact so will Afghanistan;Afghan nationalists can take a sigh of relief because Pakistan has nukes, so it would take at least a century to disintegrate(non guarantees that it would).

When Bangladesh seperated from your kafir country, I didn't see Afghanistan break loose or we lost again some territory that I don't know off.

Afghanistan survived the 90 chaos with no goverment at all and the whole international comunity turning there back on us, if even in those times Afghanistan could remain as one country how the hell would it fall apart now? Please point out to me one organized group who want to have its own state from Afghanistan, and has made it there goal to do so? There is non, bu on the other hand in Porkistan.....

[Al-Afghani]

Well if Afghanistan keeps rooting for Pakistan's partition, then it is likely that it would partition too, but as long as Pakistan's in tact so will Afghanistan;Afghan nationalists can take a sigh of relief because Pakistan has nukes, so it would take at least a century to disintegrate(non guarantees that it would).

There is a good possibility that Pakistan will absorb the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan into their new Loya Pakhtunkhwa province. The Haqqanis, Omars, and Gulbuddins are already in favor of this.

[Loy Afghanistan]

When Bangladesh seperated from your kafir country, I didn't see Afghanistan break loose or we lost again some territory that I don't know off.

Afghanistan survived the 90 chaos with no goverment at all and the whole international comunity turning there back on us, if even in those times Afghanistan could remain as one country how the hell would it fall apart now? Please point out to me one organized group who want to have its own state from Afghanistan, and has made it there goal to do so? There is non, bu on the other hand in Porkistan.....

This is porki beghariat dream. Even Afghanistan/Pashtunistan at is weakest point, did not lost territory. Because Afghans/Pashtuns love their homeland no matter what the difference between each other. But these porkis former hindus, former "pashtuns" and other mix raced people "pathan" bla bla bla. doesn't want to be the only beghariata in the world. Selling their ancestors land to british witch hag "queen", pounds, dollars and who ever pays the most for this prostitute nation.

[tripledouble]

When Bangladesh seperated from your kafir country, I didn't see Afghanistan break loose or we lost again some territory that I don't know off.

Afghanistan survived the 90 chaos with no goverment at all and the whole international comunity turning there back on us, if even in those times Afghanistan could remain as one country how the hell would it fall apart now? Please point out to me one organized group who want to have its own state from Afghanistan, and has made it there goal to do so? There is non, bu on the other hand in Porkistan.....

LOL Bangladesh was 1600 kms away from Pakistan, what happened theredoesn't affect people here and neither does it affect Afghanistan. If Pakistan breaks up, it will def break up Afghanistan because if the 35 million pashtuns in Pakistan merge with Afghanistan, then Tajiks will become a minority and they don't want to live under pashtun hegemony.

Even the Uzbekz and Turkmens are fed up and Want their Turkestan, let's not even talk about the Hazaras who have always been waiting for there chance and now they might get it.

If Afghanistan plays with fire, it's going to burn too,.


In fact the partition of Afghanistan is very likely now, that will just leave in Afghani pasthuns in limbo

[Khostai]

LOL Bangladesh was 1600 kms away from Pakistan, what happened theredoesn't affect people here and neither does it affect Afghanistan. If Pakistan breaks up, it will def break up Afghanistan because if the 35 million pashtuns in Pakistan merge with Afghanistan, then Tajiks will become a minority and they don't want to live under pashtun hegemony.

Even the Uzbekz and Turkmens are fed up and Want their Turkestan, let's not even talk about the Hazaras who have always been waiting for there chance and now they might get it.

If Afghanistan plays with fire, it's going to burn too,.


In fact the partition of Afghanistan is very likely now, that will just leave in Afghani pasthuns in limbo

LOL your just dum, What are Hazar goiong to do, make Bamyan there country lol Uzback and Turkmen are to littel in number to claim anything.

Porkistan played with fire and it pays now for it. Terrorist everywhere, baloch independent movement and talibs from pashtun regions make daily bombs. Hopefully it get much worse becuase you ghual deserve it.

The only country in south Asia that will break apart is Porkistan.