The National Language Debate started with Amit Shah’s statement in Parliament that Hindi should be the National Language. In response to Amit Shah’s suggestion,, Tamilnadu state BJP Head Annamalai stated explicitly that Hindi Imposition will not be accepted in Tamilnadu. Tamilnadu Chief Minister Stalin rejected the Hindi Imposition. Social Media erupted with protests against Amit Shah’s statement not just from Tamilnadu but even from Bengal and Maharashtra.
Kannada Actor Sudeep made a statement that after KGF success, Hindi is not a National Language anymore. Ajay Devgan retorted saying that the south shouldnt be releasing movies in Hindi. Nishad, UP Cabinet Minister added more fuel to the fire saying that those who do not wish to speak in Hindi can go out of the country. He said that Hindustan is only for Hindi speaking people only. Kangana Ranaut joined the debate supporting Ajay Devgan. This infuriated the entire south with them venting their anger in Social Media. The Tag #HindiisnotNationalLanguage trended for several days as did the tag #StopHindiimposiotion. Karnataka BJP CM Bommai supported Sudeep. Even Karnataka congress leaders supported Sudeep and spoke against Hindi Hegemony.
Hindi is spoken by 26% of people. Rest all are dialects that have chosen to merge with Hindi like Rajasthani, Bhojpuri,Punjabi, etc., If the 1891 census is taken into consideration, these languages were called indo aryan languages distinct from Dravidian Languages. Dravidian Cultures are ancient languages older than most other north indian languages. Indus Valley Dialect has been deciphered to be dravidian. Dravidian Languages are spoken by nearly 250 million people not just in the South but in several other countries. They are 4000-6000 yrs old. All of them have strong literary traditions which has helped them sustain the language over thousands of years.
The Gond Tribes in Central India and Kurukh in eastern India also speak Dravidian languages. Dravidian Languages are also spoken in Brahui in Balochistan though it is far from South India.It is very much clear that Dravidians had presence in North India & Indus Valley much before 2000 B.C. The Indus Valley Civilization had trade with most of the Middle east as evident from its ivory artefacts found in several places in the Middle east.This clearly indicates the influence of Dravidian Languages reached much of Asia as early as eight thousand years ago. Bahata Mukhopadhyay’s research clearly established the antiquity of dravidian languages much before indo-aryan languages.
The languages which merged into Hindi did not have strong literary foundations which broke its connection with the past over generations. There are Bhojpuri actors, Rajasthani Actors and movies but they are miniscule compared to the overall Hindi Belt. South India in terms of Box Office Hits has been reaching across India audiences in the recent past. Bollywood has not churned any wins in the recent past. The most recent box office hits were mostly remakes from South Indian movies. South Indian Movies have strong connection with local culture and hence attract more audiences whereas Bollywood has come up with weak content over the years. Many feel that this might have caused reactions to Sudeep's words.
