Communication breakdown

The Hindi-primacy debate has lost its relevance

The debate over whether Hindi should be an official language, a national language and a compulsory language in schools is at least as old as independent India. But in the third decade of the 21st century, this issue is long past its sell-by date — barring, of course, for a Parivar that harks back to a spurious and mythical ancient past of Hindi-Hindu dominance. If India wants to become an economic power of any reckoning in the world, the question of knowing or not knowing Hindi is irrelevant. Instead, the Centre and state governments should focus their energies on making