Editor’s note: ICYMI, here’s the first part of this series—which looks at the roots of the anti-Hindi resistance.

Researched by: Sara Varghese & Sheya Kurian

Tamil Nadu: The great anti-Hindi warrior

The 1937 movement: The state’s fierce resistance to Hindi dates back to 1937—when the first-ever Congress ministry in the Madras Presidency introduced Hindi as a compulsory subject in schools. It sparked immediate protests and a popular Self-Respect Movement—led by EV Ramasamy (Periyar), who was promptly arrested. But it did little to stem the rage, as one minister recalled: “For three whole months, every morning when I got out of my house I heard nothing but cries of ‘Let Hindi die, and let Tamil live.” The Congress government eventually had to give in.

The post-independent years: In 1949, the Constitution adopted a compromise reached with constituent assembly members from the South. Hindi would become our official language—not a national language—and so would English for a period of 15 years. As the deadline drew near in 1959, Nehru promised that English would continue as the official language—and the language of communication between the union government and the states. 

The Official Languages Act was passed in 1963—supposedly to seal the deal. It read:

“Notwithstanding the expiration of the period of fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution, the English language may, as from the appointed day, continue to be used in addition to Hindi.”

The language was wishy-washy, and did not contain any specific guarantee regarding English’s status. At the time, DMK leader CN Annadurai demanded the word ‘may’ be replaced with ‘shall’, but was overruled by the Congress which had a brute majority in Parliament.

The 1965 riots: When the 15-year deadline came around—in January, 1965—Nehru had passed away. And his successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri, declared his commitment to making Hindi the sole official language. Adding fuel to fire, the Congress government in Tamil Nadu—which introduced the Three-Language Formula to teach Hindi in schools. Here’s how it unfolded:

• The agitation started peacefully on January 25—the eve of the deadline—with “pall bearers” carrying a mock “dead body" of the Hindi demon, accompanied by “wailing" students. 
• But the confrontations between protesters and Congress supporters soon turned violent. 
• Young men set themselves on fire, chanting “Tamil Vazhuga! Hindi Ozhiga!" (Long live Tamil! Death to Hindi!). 
• The Congress state government brought in paramilitary forces to quell the uprising. 
• Seventy people were killed over 55 days—35 of them shot in just one day. Unofficial figures are as high as 150—and include two policemen set on fire by raging mobs.

The fallout: Shastri would not relent even when the issue created fissures within the Congress—and two union ministers from Tamil Nadu resigned. But President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan refused to accept the resignations—and counselled Shastri to back down. And so he did—declaring in a radio broadcast on February 11 that he will abide by Nehru’s promise to retain English as an official language.

More importantly, this: The 1965 riots marked the end of Congress’ domination of Tamil Nadu politics. In 1967, the newly anointed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi endured a humiliating electoral defeat when the Annadurai-led DMK swept into power with a two-third majority. The Congress would never come back to power again. Interesting point to note: The communist parties in the state remained either indifferent to the Hindi issue—and often advocated its cause.

The caste factor: The antagonism to Hindi is closely linked to resentment of the political power of Brahmins—who dominated the Congress party. This dates to the days of Periyar who quit the party in opposition to C Rajagopalachari’s (Rajaji) attempt to introduce Hindi in schools back in 1937:

“Brahmins in the Tamil-speaking regions also spoke a Sanskrit-laced Tamil which, in the view of many, placed them in a position of advantage vis-à-vis Hindi. That Congress eminences like Rajaji were Brahmin and also reasonably fluent Hindi speakers was a fact not lost on the public. Hindi imposition was viewed as a Brahminical conspiracy to keep the lower castes in their thrall and this was unacceptable.”

Also this:

“In part, ‘Hindi’ was a stand-in for ‘Brahmin’ and opposition to Hindi was a way of registering a protest against Brahmin domination. Equally, there was the notion of the south Indian ‘Dravidian’ being a counterpoint to the north Indian ‘Aryan’. Hindi was a North Indian language and both North Indians and Hindi’s southern supporters, the Brahmins, were of presumed ‘Aryan’ stock or origins.”

So it isn’t an accident that Tamil Nadu politics are now dominated by two Dravidian parties—DMK and AIADMK—that share a staunch opposition to Hindi. 

Point to note: While the 1965 riots did spread to other southern states, they have never been quite as adamant in their resistance to Hindi. Kerala and Karnataka have rarely witnessed anti-Hindi riots, while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have a multilingual history—since Urdu is one of the primary languages spoken in Hyderabad.

Where we are now: More Hindustani than Hindi?

The numbers: As per the last census taken in 2011, 43.63% of the population said that either their first language or mother tongue was Hindi. On the face of it, this isn’t much of an improvement on the 45% who spoke Hindustani back in the 1940s—when the Constitution was being drafted. But Hindi is also the fastest growing language in the country—growing by 25.19% between 2001 and 2011. But that number refers to “general speakers”—which includes people for whom Hindi is a second language. 

Raja Hindustani? The spread of Hindi likely reflects the fact that Bollywood and migration have succeeded where nationalists have failed. As one historian notes, Indians are eminently pragmatic: 

“It is not that Tamils will not learn Hindi when they go to another state. In the 1950s and ‘60s, a lot of Tamils moved to Mumbai for economic reasons and they learned the language, not just Hindi but Marathi too. Even in Bengaluru today, people from other south Indian states will learn Kannada and speak it. Similarly, unskilled labourers who come to the south for work, learn the local language and speak it.”

Though it is unlikely that most of these general speakers know the shuddh Hindi Nationalists advocate—since the South remains opposed to any three language formula that introduces Hindi into schools. And most states do not teach a third language—and certainly not Hindi where it isn’t the official language of the state. A recent Amit Shah proposal to make Hindi compulsory in the North East sparked immediate outrage.

Irony alert: The numbers for all the South Indian languages are actually decreasing. Though Hindi isn’t exactly thriving in Tamil Nadu—which still has the smallest percentage of general speakers—a measly 2.11%. Kerala has the lowest number of native speakers at 0.6%.

The other languages: As we noted yesterday, the catch-all category of Hindi does the greatest injustice to the 56 languages that it has assimilated. And the very creation of an Eighth Schedule—which recognises only 22 languages—has left all others to languish in obscurity:

“The Eight Schedule (ES) takes no cognisance of various languages. Empowering a few has impoverished and marginalised others by exclusion. Consequently, the ES languages have gained power, recognition and prestige as 'mainstream' or 'standard' languages. The others have been left to languish with demeaning labels such as "dialects', 'minor languages', 'tribal languages' and so on.”

Point to note: 197 languages in India are either vulnerable, endangered or extinct.

The bottomline: Language goes to the core of identity, as Papia Sengupta says:

“Language is not simply a tool for communication but is a central and defining feature of identity as all human thoughts are conceptualised through a language and all human values are pronounced and perceived through it. It follows that since language is a significant factor in building one’s identity, it must be preserved.”

Perhaps our time would be better spent in preserving the rich diversity of our identities—rather than trying to force everyone into one ‘Indian’ mould.

Reading list

Mint has an excellent analysis of the 1965 riots—while The News Minute has a longer timeline of Tamil Nadu’s anti-Hindi history. Scroll has more on the role of communist parties in Tamil Nadu. Deccan Herald has the latest census data with charts. Economic & Political Weekly offers a good overview of the arguments against having a single national language. If you missed it, be sure to check out the first part of this series—which looks at the formation of the states and the constituent assembly debates.