‘TRIVENI’
HAS SHED LIGHT ON MY PATH.
BLESSED BE HER NAME!
While
the Fazl Ali Commission on the Re-organisation of States is preparing to draft its
Report in the secluded vale of Kashmir, the cross-currents in Indian public
life present a bewildering variety of aim and method. A powerful group in
Bombay, led by Sri. S. K. Patil, has ranged itself against the basic concept of
linguistic States. It seeks to rally all patriotic Indians to the cause of
Indian unity which is imagined to be in danger because of the progress of
‘linguism’. This is a new term of reproach coined by the opponents of
linguistic States and frequently used in juxtaposition with ‘communalism’,
‘provincialism’ and ‘reactionism’. But tried nationalists like Dr. Rajendra
Prasad, Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Sri R. R. Diwakar and Swami Ramanand Tirtha
have, right from the beginning, sponsored the cause of linguistic States as a
necessary step towards a composite and democratic Federal State. Bihar and
Andhra, Karnataka and Orissa, were not only the strongholds of
patriotism in the era of the freedom fight, but also emphasised the need to
develop the regional languages as the vehicles of the finest
thought, fit to be employed at the highest levels in courts and colleges,
secretariats and legislatures. To Gopabandhu Das or Konda Venkatappayya, love
of their mother-tongue and of their home-Province involved no conflict with the
wider patriotism symbolised by Gandhi and the Gandhian movement.
The
post-Independence era has created new situations and thrown up fresh problems
in connection with the movement for linguistic re-organisation. Lesser men than
the pioneers have come to the fore, and there is a tendency to treat the
linguistic minorities in certain states as conquered or subject peoples. It is
forgotten that every inch of the territory of the Indian Union belongs to every
one of its citizens, and no Indian can be treated as an outsider in any State.
He can settle down, acquire property, pursue a profession, seek public
employment, and educate his children in the mother-tongue during the earlier
stages of the school course. All that any State Government can require of him
is that, if he wishes to serve in any Department, he should pass a minimum test
in the regional language when it is different from his mother-tongue. Even
after the most careful delimitation of boundaries between adjoining States,
there are sure to be border areas which will be bi-lingual. The Central
Government must frame rules on an all-India basis to make provision in such
areas for,
In addition, there
should be Central Government officers in every State who will
make themselves responsible for the proper implementation of the rules in this
regard. It ought not to be necessary for aggrieved parties
to resort frequently to the High Court or the Supreme Court for the redressal
of grievances.
But
bi-lingual areas constitute only a fraction of the problem to be tackled by the
Commission. Even if the arrangements out-lined above are faithfully carried
out, the larger question of the re-distribution of territorial units remains.
There are trouble spots like the Telugu areas in Orissa, the Bengali areas in
Bihar, and the Tamil areas in Travancore-Cochin. The
local Telugu organisations in Orissa and the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee
have presented a strong case for the re-inclusion in the Andhra State of large
slices of the Ganjam and Koraput Districts, which were transferred from the old
Madras Province to the Province of Orissa when the latter was carved out
eighteen years ago. The then Government of India was opposed to
such a transfer, but the Secretary of State decided to include Parlakimedi in
the new Province on the ground that the Raja of Parlakimedi wished
it, and added on Berhampore because Orissa could not flourish without this
important town in the South! A revision of boundaries was
promised at the time, and, with the recent formation of Andhra, the demand for
such revision has gained momentum. The claim of the Andhras is that these areas
are definitely Telugu and that the coastal belt up to the river Rishikulya,
including Berhampore, Chatrapur and Gopalpore, must be absorbed in Andhra.
Similar claims are advanced by Orissa regarding Saraikela, and by Bengal
regarding Singbhum. An important body like the Commission is in a position to
give a correct lead in these matters and to set at rest longstanding
controversies. Any decision with a touch of finality about it is better than the
present state of uncertainty.
The
disintegration of Hyderabad is the major headache of the Commission. There is a
large consensus of opinion, official and non-official, in favour of a break-up
and the inclusion of its three linguistic units in the bordering States. While
this is so, tentative proposals have been made in certain quarters that there
should be two Telugu-speaking States–Telangana and Andhra, two Marathi
States–Maharashtra and Vidarbha, and two Kannada States–Mysore and Karnataka.
On principle, there can be no objection to two States in the Indian Union
speaking the same language, because there are already four or five States with
Hindi as their main language. But once the Commission decides to recommend the
break-up of Hyderabad, the wiser course would be to form large, well-knit and
homogeneous States like Visalandhra and Samyukta Karnataka, instead of
duplicating Cabinets, High Courts and Legislatures. These
larger States would be sounder from a financial point of view, and also be able
to give greater attention to river valley and other
developmental projects covering the same linguistic area.
Claims
and counter-claims to territory, allegations of injustice to minorities, fears about
the future based on recent outbreaks of linguistic fanaticism,–these cloud the
horizon. The Report of the Commission is awaited with keen interest. The
greatest service the Commission can render to modern India is to make its
recommendations, undismayed by these portents. This is a time of transition and
of ferment, when great issues have to be faced and solved. It is necessary to
bear in mind the fundamental consideration that any new States that may come
into being as a result of the Commission’s labours, will not be independent
sovereign States but homogeneous administrative units of the Indian Union,
acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution and owing allegiance to the
President who is the symbol of that supremacy.
Allied
to the problem of creating new States based mainly on language is that of
assigning to Hindi its proper position in the political and cultural life of
India. Our Constitution declares Hindi as the official language of the Union,
but sets a limit of fifteen years during which English will continue to occupy
a prominent place. The Official Language Commission, under the chairmanship of
Sri B. G. Kher, will tour the different States, gather evidence, and indicate
the steps to be taken for the rapid development of Hindi as the official
language. There is a section of Hindi enthusiasts of the type of Sri
Purushothamdas Tandon and Seth Govinda Das, which feels dissatisfied with the
progress so far achieved with regard to the spread of Hindi and lays the blame on
the Central and State Governments for what it considers to be lack of
enthusiasm. On the other hand, there is discontent in several non-Hindi States
at the methods adopted to hasten the pace of ‘Hindi-isation’ to the
disadvantage of the other Indian languages, spoken by millions over vast
stretches of the land and possessing great literatures. It is not correct to
refer to Hindi as the ‘Rashtra Bhasha’–the ‘National Language’. Indeed, all the
fourteen languages recognised by the Indian Constitution are our ‘National’
languages, and Hindi cannot claim any superiority on the ground merely of the
numerical strength of the people speaking it. Long before Hindi was placed on a
high pedestal by the united will of our Constitution-makers, people in
non-Hindi areas studied Hindi with zest, largely owing to the example set by
Gandhiji. Several voluntary associations sprang up all over the non-Hindi
States, and young and old–and particularly the women–sat for examinations and
were proud of the certificates of proficiency granted to them. But after the
adoption of the Constitution, and even while it was in the process of being
adopted, the aggressive elements in Delhi, Allahabad and Lucknow took up an
attitude of hostility to other Indian languages, and spoke as if they had
stepped into the shoes of the departing British rulers. It was with
considerable difficulty that the Munshi-Gopalaswami Iyengar formula was
evolved. Events have happened since then, culminating in the proposal that all
competitive examinations for the higher All-India Services should be conducted
in Hindi, to the exclusion of English and the regional languages. This was
widely objected to on the ground that an unfair advantage was sought to be
given to candidates from the Hindi States, and even a sober critic like Sri
Rajaji was ‘angry’ and asserted that the only reasonable step was to impose a
separate language test in Hindi. It would be equally reasonable to impose a
similar test on Hindi-speaking candidates in any one of the other Indian
languages.
Hindi
is not meant to be the official language of all the States of the Indian Union,
for they have the right, according to the Constitution, to declare one or more
of the regional languages as ‘State languages’, gradually replacing English.
Nor can Hindi be the sole medium of instruction in all Indian Universities. The
Radhakrishnan Commission on University Education recommended the adoption of any
Indian language as such medium, whenever a particular University wished to
change over from English. Attempts are being made to prepare glossaries of
technical terms in the different Indian languages as a prelude
to the writing of text-books for use at the University level. Dictionaries,
encyclopedias, and accounts of the growth and development of all Indian
literatures, will follow in due course.
When
Hindi acquires the requisite vocabulary and felicity of expression–as it is
bound to–particularly in the sphere of politics and administration, it can be
employed, in gradual stages, as the official language of the Government of
India alongside of English. The Central Government will employ both languages,
till such time as the people of the non-Hindi States agree that Hindi shall be
the sole official language at the Centre. So too, each State of the Indian
Union will exercise its free choice as to whether it will carry on
correspondence with the Centre and the other States in Hindi or in English. The
Constitution may have to be so amended as to permit of this type of
bi-lingualism, even after the expiry of the 15 year limit. Canada is a striking
instance of bi-lingualism, French and English taking equal rank as the official
languages of the Dominion.
In
schools and colleges in non-Hindi States, provision must be made for the
optional study of Hindi. There is no need to teach any language compulsorily,
at any stage, except the language of the region and Sanskrit where there is
public opinion in its favour. Hindi, English, or any other language can be
taken up for study during the later years of the High School course, or
at the beginning of the College course. The effort to teach four or five
languages simultaneously and compulsorily is futile.
Since
Hindi is recognised as the official language of the Indian Union, every person
seeking admission into any of the Central Government Services–Railways, Posts
and Telegraphs, Income-Tax or Excise–must be required to pass a test in Hindi
of the standard of the present ‘Rashtra Bhasha’ examination, which needs only a
six months’ intensive study. The Government of India can publish officially two
or three text-books and a simplified Hindi grammar for the purposes of such an
examination all over India. In addition, special prizes may be awarded to
students in schools and colleges, members of the public, and to Government
servants, for proficiency in Hindi. Thus a proper climate for the free and
voluntary spread of Hindi will prevail. This will ease the present tension and
eventually secure to Hindi its rightful place as the medium of inter-State
communication. Meanwhile, all wild talk about ‘driving away’
English must cease, for English will be taught in our schools and colleges as a
very important language, even when it is not the medium of instruction.
The
passing away of Sri Oleti Parvatisam at the ripe age of, seventy marks the end
of a long career of devoted service to the cause of Telugu literature. Sri
Parvatisam and Sri Balantrapu Venkata Rao were students of the late Sri
Nadakuduti Veeraraju Pantulu, a scholar and critic of high attainments. The
friendship formed at the Guru’s feet ripened into a literary comradeship, as
famous as that of the other pairs of Telugu litterateurs,–Venkata Sastri and
Tirupati Sastri, and Lakshmikantam and Venkateswara Rao. Together, Venkata Rao
and Parvatisam called themselves ‘Venkata Parvatisvara
Kavulu’. Their outstanding contribution to the Telugu poetry of the last
half-a-century is a volume of devotional poems–‘Ekantaseva’. Love of
the Lord and unswerving faith in His tenderness and mercy form the key-note of
this collection of poems, which won the high appreciation of the late Sir C. R.
Reddy. Sweetness and grace of style make ‘Ekantaseva’ a fine example of modern
Telugu poetry at its best.
The
twin-poets founded in 1910 the ‘Andhra Pracharini Grandhamala’ and published a
large number of novels and stories, some of them original but mostly
translations from the Bengali of Bankim Chandra and other novelists of Bengal.
Theirs was almost the first successful effort to acquaint the Telugu reading
public with the classics of renascent Bengal. They forged a valuable cultural
link between Vanga and Andhra.
Sri
Parvatisam was a very lovable person, and was on the friendliest
terms with two generations of Telugu poets and writers. Even continued poverty
and neglect did not sour his temper, and he was grateful for
the modest monthly allowance granted by the Education Ministry of the
Government of India. In his simplicity and his utter dependence on Providence,
he was a modern counterpart of Potana, the poet of the ‘Andhra Bhagavata’. May
his memory be cherished by all lovers of literature!