PrintFriendlyBy indulging in politics over the NEP’s proposed three-language formula, the DMK-led Stalin dispensation is simply indulging in a politics which is passé
Referring to various defining dimensions of the NEP, PM Modi once observed how every country reformed its “education system according to its national values and goals” and that the “end goal is to make sure its youth is future-ready.” Speaking of one of the NEP’s most crucial dimensions, that of encouraging and enabling education in the mother-tongue, PM Modi observed that “Education in the mother tongue is initiating a new form of justice for the students in India. It is a very significant step towards social justice.”
It was a very significant observation. Emphasis on and cultivation of one’s language has always been seen as a major way forward towards cultural recovery and cultural independence. By speaking of social justice in the context of education in the mother tongue PM Modi referred to a cardinal dimension of inclusiveness in our national life and growth. “Developed nations of the world,” he said, “have an edge because of their local languages. Although India has an array of established languages, they were presented as a sign of backwardness, and those who could not speak English were neglected and their talents were not recognised. As a result, the children of the rural areas remained most affected. But the country has now begun to shun this belief.” This approach and insistence of the NEP is beginning to encourage a shift and change of mind-set. Previous dispensations refused to encourage possibilities of education in the mother tongue. There ought to be a debate on the causes and effects of that neglect.
The other significant point that PM Modi made, was while addressing the 98th session of the All India Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Delhi. Dwelling on the richness and complementarity of Indian languages, PM Modi argued that “There has never been any enmity among Indian languages, instead they have always adopted and enriched each other.” He spoke of the “shared heritage of languages” and that all languages in India were mainstream languages, and it was our responsibility to enrich and embrace languages. India, he said “is one of the world’s oldest living civilizations because it has consistently evolved, embraced new ideas, and welcomed changes” and that “India’s vast linguistic diversity is a testament to this evolution and serves as a fundamental basis for unity.”
A leader who has consistently displayed such a mind-set and demonstrated his commitment to preserving and perpetuating the richness of Indian languages can hardly be accused of trying to impose one language on others. By indulging in politics over the NEP’s proposed three-language formula, the DMK led Stalin dispensation is simply indulging in a politics which is passé. A politics which has and is becoming increasingly irrelevant in an India with 21st century aspirations and goals.
Being in power, in different spells, for the last five decades in Tamil Nadu and despite all its professions of upholding Tamil pride, the DMK never did what PM Modi has done for perpetuating Tamil language, icons, literature and history on a global scale. His tributes through various initiatives to Mahakavi Subramania Bharati and Saint Thiruvalluvar are a few cases in point. The DMK’s record has been that of shunning the legacy and contributions of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati.
For a party which has often indulged in the politics of separatism and of division, its latest noise should come as no surprise. Let us recall how in 1970, late M.Karunanidhi, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, had floated the idea of a separate flag for the state and had even unveiled a sample of that flag during a visit to Delhi. His scheme of providing pension to “language-martyrs” of the anti-Hindi agitation was struck down by the Supreme Court which had termed such a move as “containing the vice of disintegration and fomenting fissiparous tendencies.” Its violent anti-Hindi agitation was directed at the Congress dispensation, which is its ally now. By making hollow noises in order to keep its brand of divisive politics alive, the DMK wants to divert attention from one of the most important points in the NEP, that of education in the mother tongue ushering a new era of a new form of social justice in India. As the product of a social justice movement, why is it trying to bury that crucial aspect under a debris of false accusations and calumny?
Let us recall an era, which existed before the DMK’s politics of hate and accusation. It was an era when the learning of many Indian languages was celebrated and was seen as a sign of true education, erudition and of learning. It is known, for instance, that during his early years in Puducherry, Sri Aurobindo was a keen student of Tamil. Historian P. Raja, writes of the Mahakavi and Mahayogi dialogue in exile in Puducherry. Sri Aurobindo introduced Mahakavi Bharati to the world of the Vedas, while Mahakavi introduced the Mahayogi to the world of the Tamil Vaishnava Saints. “Both of them being well versed in the Sanskrit language, they joined their heads for the study of the Vedas and the Upanishads. The result was the birth of Vachana Kavithaigal in Tamil”, writes Raja. In her study of Subramania Bharati, noted author and philosopher Prema Nandakumar writes that firebrand Tamil author and freedom fighter VVS Aiyar, Bharati and Sri Aurobindo “were steeped in the literature of India and the West.” While Bharati and Sri Aurobindo were poets, Aiyar was a “well-known short-story writer.” They “spent many hours on the Pondicherry beach discussing literature and philosophy and mysticism,” observes Nandakumar.
Raja also notes that “Sri Aurobindo took the trouble of learning the Tamil language, studying its literature and mastering what the Tamil mystics and intellectuals have to say on the mystery of life.” He had translated portions of the Thirrukural, and had also translated verses from “saint poets like Nammalwar, Kulasekhara Alwar and Andal.” Subramania Bharati on the other hand learnt Bengali from Sri Aurobindo and translated “several short stories and essays of Rabindranath Tagore from Bengali into Tamil”, P.Raja points out. Sri Aurobindo’s descriptions of Vaishnava Saint Perialwar Vishnuchitta and of Andal show his deep immersion in Tamil language, literature, religious history and philosophy.
- Raja refers to the eminent Tamil scholar and writer Prof. P. Marudanayagam who describes the influence that Sri Aurobindo had on Mahakavi Bharati, “The greatest contribution of Sri Aurobindo to Tamil literature is what he did to Subramania Bharati, the inaugurator of modern poetry in Tamil. It was during his stay in Pondicherry as a political exile from 1908 to 1918 that Bharati’s creative vigour reached its peak yielding the best of his writings in verse and prose. If Bharati entered Pondicherry as a political revolutionary, he left it as a Gnani. And Sri Aurobindo played an extraordinary role in this profound transformation: their frequent meetings brought about this alchemy.” Would Sri Aurobindo and Mahakavi Bharati, for instance, qualify to be designated as icons or symbols of linguistic harmony by the DMK’s ideologues in their world-view or scheme of things?
One of India’s greatest linguists and polyglot Suniti Kumar Chatterji, a contemporary and colleague of the likes of S.Radhakrishnan, C.V.Raman, S.N. Bose and Meghnand Saha, for instance, was highly regarded by Tamil scholars and writers and was known among them as “Nanneri-Murugan” the Tamil rendering of his name “Suniti-Kumāra”, writes Sanskritist and linguist Sukumari Bhattacharji in an assessment of Chatterji. “He was looked upon with great respect and affection as one who loves and understands the culture of Dravidians; at the same time, he lays due stress on the value of Sanskrit tradition for the whole of India, the world of Tamizhakam or Tamil-Nad included,” writes Sukumari Bhattacharji.
In 1964 Annamalai University published Chatterji’s book “Dravidian.” Chatterji was awarded the title of Sahitya-Vachaspati by the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad, in 1948, for his services to Hindi Language and Literature. One wonders whether someone like Chatterji, embodying in him the essential linguistic spirit of India as described by PM Modi, would, for instance, have a place in Tamil Nadu that the DMK envisages. His erudition of Hindi, his love for and deep knowledge of Tamil and his belief in the value of the Sanskrit tradition for the whole of India, would perhaps disqualify Chatterji from making it to the pantheons of the DMK’s greats.
In his mission to reform Indian education, the redoubtable Asutosh Mookerjee, as Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University, was struggling to usher in an education that would not, writes Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, “denationalise his countrymen, but would combine in it the best elements of Eastern and Western thought”. He resolutely took on those who were opposed to the teaching of Indian languages and of instruction in Indian languages in the University. Education in one’s language, the study of one’s own literature was one of the surest ways towards self-awakening. Asutosh had discerned that on the health of each limbs depended the health of the entire national body, writes Syama Prasad, and hence he had, in those early days, introduced in the system of instruction Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Maithili as well as Tamil, Telugu and other languages of southern India.
In a Bengali article that he wrote for the famous Bengali monthly “Prabasi”, “Sikshar Samprasaron”, on the spread of education, Syama Prasad argued, that anyone who has learnt one’s language well and was immersed in its literature, would not only want to teach it others, but would also want to learn the languages of others. “In any country, at any age, such a situation is always to be welcomed and desired.” The dharma – the duty of literature and of language is to unite one with the other, the darkness of ignorance which blinds human vision and separates human beings can only be repelled through the light of literature and of language, Syama Prasad observed. One must remember that PM Modi belongs to that intellectual and philosophical lineage.
The raking up of the language issue is an obsolete pastime. New India, India aspiring to emerge as “Viksit”, wants its creative energies and talents unleashed. The strength, dynamism and civilizational richness of India’s languages can make India’s youth future-ready; they can act as dynamos propelling India to her rightful place in the global scheme of things. It is a retrograde mind which would argue otherwise.
Sources:
- Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, 1998,
- Raja, ‘The Mahakavi and the Mahayogi: their Interpersonal Relationship in Pondicherry’, in Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, August, 2022.
- Prema Nanda Kumar, Subramania Bharati, 2021
- Suniti Kumar Chatterji Jubilee Volume, 1955
- Suniti Kumar Chatterji: The Scholar and the Man, 1970
- Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Koyekti Rachana, (Bengali), 1956
- Kannan, The DMK Years: Ascent, Descent, Survival, 2024
- ‘Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Inaugurates 98th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan,’ Press Information Bureau Release, 21 February, 2025
- “National Education Policy will give due respect to every Indian language: PM Modi’, The Economic Times, July 29, 2023.
(A version of this article first appeared in the News18 portal on 6 March, 2025)
Source: https://www.news18.com/opinion/opinion-language-politics-is-passe-someone-tell-the-dmk-9252090.html
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