At time, I am unable to understand what our political officials are saying on television. Granted, they speak only in Hindi, in differing accents, varying speeds and using words that are beyond me.

I studied in Mumbai and Delhi and have, in my work, travelled to almost all parts of urban and rural India. I have managed even when I did not know the local language or dialect.

My upgringing ensured that I have no prejudice against any language.

Going places

My father, a matriculate whose mother tongue was Kannada and who studied in Tamil, moved at age 17 from Srirangam, a great temple town in Tamil Nadu, to Mumbai. His father had died and he had to support the family. Mumbai was where he knew he could find a job and send money home to support his mother and siblings.

In Mumbai, he married my mother who had the same background. He decided that since he was in another part of India where the language was Marathi, he and his wife and children would learn to speak, read and write in Marathi. We did. The point is that there was no hostility, but acceptance of language.

The language agitation that almost led to the secession of Tamil Nadu from the rest of India was because of bigots from Uttar Pradesh who wanted to impose one national language, Hindi. Rajaji had started a major movement to teach Hindi to Tamilians. But there were many millions to whom it was an incomprehensible language.

No doubt, over time and with travel, Hindi will become more comprehensible to all in India. It is not yet so. Many other parts of India still have difficulty in speaking and understanding Hindi.

Don’t force it

Meanwhile, English has become for many — rich and poor, urban and rural — a guarantee for better jobs and living standards. While a three-language (mother tongue, English and Hindi) is now in place, fluency in all of them is a long time away.

Ever since the BJP government took office in 2014, the Prime minister and his ministers communicate in public mostly in Hindi. Now it is to be used more extensively in road and railway signs, government notifications, etc.

There is dismay among many for who Hindi is not so familiar. As yet there is no public movement against it. If the Government is not sensitive to the underlying mood, it will come.

We must be more cautious about accelerating the use of Hindi. Our leaders must make more effort to communicate to people in languages that the people can understand.

With its emphasis on development for all, and the already simmering disaffection among the minorities, we do not need another reason for unrest to hold back development.

The writer is an economist and former chairman of the Central Electricity Regulation Commission

Related Topics