India as a diverse union of nationalities, comprises 4,635 ethnic groups that speak languages from four major linguistic families: Dravidian, Indo-European, Austro-Asiatic, and Tibeto-Burman. On July 29, 2020, as the people of this landmass struggled with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, to add salt to the injury, the union government imposed the National Education Policy (NEP) without any parliamentary debate or consultation. A move that made many question the very existence of federalism that is enshrined in the preamble of the so-called “Mother of Democracies”
The NEP is yet another Brahminical-Neoliberal manifesto to spearhead the ongoing saffronisation trend, as such several despicable clauses, terming which ‘anti-people’ would be a mere understatement. Among its many provisions, the Three-Language Policy (TLP) has garnered significant public attention in recent times. With the union government threatening to withhold funds from Tamil Nadu over the implementation of this policy, the basis of this policy needs scrutiny. Like its predecessors from 1968 and 1986, the policy mandates that students learn three languages at the secondary stage, with at least two being native to India. In Hindi-speaking states, this typically includes Hindi, English, and a modern Indian language. In non-Hindi-speaking states, students must learn their regional language, Hindi, and English, thus imposing Hindi on states where it is not a native language. Such prolonged, catastrophic policies have left some languages with permanent scars, as many languages with rich literary traditions, like Bhojpuri, Maithili, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Konkani, etc., have faced continuous decline since the imposition of Hindi. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has historically used several nefarious tactics, built upon the Brahminical concept of homogeneity, in their fascist venture to establish “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan.” Through this blatant suppression of nationalities, they have once again shown their Nazi influences, as the methods of these fascists are no different from their German counterparts, who used the imposition of language as a way to establishing cultural supremacy and authority. But what the saffron hooligans fail to understand is that the intrusion of autocracy and the repression of a nationality inevitably grows into the zeal for liberation, our very own neighbour, Bangladesh, is a living example of this.
Thus, for the subcontinent that has historically seen a peaceful coexistence of its nationalities, a language policy must be built with inclusivity and unity as its foundational principles. Lessons ought not to be taken from the autocratic values of the Nazis but rather from the democratic values of the Soviets. The Soviet Language Policy was a pioneer in fostering the preservation of various languages and was built upon the axiom of “Education in the mother tongue,” promoting integrity and inclusivity. These were not mere empty words for whitewashing but stemmed from the stand of the Soviets regarding autonomy of different nationality groups within the USSR. By taking lessons from the Soviets, we need to fight for a revolutionary language policy that serves its masses in the truest sense!
