Against Chauvinism

Friends, Some of us had the opportunity to gather at an NDTV programme on language wars along with a diverse audience and panel at their studios in N.Delhi. The discussion covered a range of issues including the issue of a link language for India and personal experiences of learning languages in the Indian context. The backdrop of the programme was the dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra on the issue of Marathi speaking villages in the district of Belgaum in Karnataka which Maharashtra is claiming for its own.This has given vent to a rising tide of linguistic and regional chauvinism in both Karnataka and Maharashtra. Now, language was the basis on which Indian states were organised in India.The background to adopting this criterion were the famous debates on the nationality question in the 20th century.The challenge in this context was always to rise above chauvinism. This was well reflected in the concerns raised by the panel and some of the audience. The discussion also turned to politics of language etc. but missed out on the question of education against linguistic chauvinism and chauvinism as such as the anchor acknowledged towards the end.To us however, the democratic spirit of the gathering and the concern of the vocal and not so vocal in listening to each other in fact contributed to the spirit of education against chauvinism. It is this democratic spirit which ultimately contributes towards an internationalist education against linguistic chauvinism.It was this spirit which was highlighted by the prominent writers on this question in the nationality question debates in the 20th century.
However, it is this very democratic and educational spirit which is being hijacked in the current context. The attack on Zee TV station in Maharashtra where a discussion on the Belgaum issue was in progress last week or the attack on TV Today offices in Delhi again last week shows that there are forces out to annex this progressive spirit itself. We need to be on our guard against this.(SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)