Hindi Divas: Many leaders clashed in the Constituent Assembly over Hindi, most of them spoke in English, know why Hindi could not become the national language

New Delhi: Hindi Diwas is celebrated every year on 14 September. Different programs are being organized across the country on Hindi Diwas today. But do you know that the controversy over language in India has been going on since independence. Making any one language the national language in this country full of diversity has always been a complicated task. The demand to make Hindi the national language has been going on since independence. There was a heated debate in the Constituent Assembly about making Hindi the national language. Today we will tell you what debates took place on Hindi in the Constituent Assembly? Who were those who gave arguments for not making Hindi the national language? What was finally agreed upon?

There was a heated debate in the Constituent Assembly

This is the story of 13 September 1949… when the debate on the official language of India started in the Constituent Assembly. This debate was going on under the supervision of the Constituent Assembly Chairman Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar, a member of the assembly, strongly advocated making Hindi the official language. But a member named Frank Anthony opposed it and cited the difficulties in understanding Hindi. Apart from this, members of the states of South India also opposed making Hindi the official language and asked for time for this, but no direct result came out.

Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar presented the side of Hindi

Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar said in front of the assembly, ‘Sir, if Hindi is made the official language of the country, no one will be happier than me.’ he/she reminded that when he/she started addressing the assembly, he/she spoke in Hindi. Many members opposed Dhulekar. After this Dhulekar further said, ‘I want to remind the assembly that when I started speaking, the language was Hindi. But I had to face opposition.’ he/she insisted that Hindi should be given the status of an official language. In any debate or discussion, only Hindi should be recognized. As an Indian, he/she has the full right to speak in his/her mother tongue Hindi.’ Dhulekar further said, ‘As a citizen and son of the country, I have the right to speak in Hindi.’ he/she strengthened his/her argument by saying, ‘The matter has progressed and today I feel that Hindi in Devanagari script has become the official language of the country.

Many members protested

Many members were openly protesting against Dhulekar. The members who came in protest said that this decision should not be taken now. But Dhulekar continued to put forward his/her arguments. he/she said, ‘When some members said that not now but I want to say that this is the fact. This is part of a long historical process. It has taken years and centuries.’ he/she gave the example of Tulsidas and Swami Vivekananda. he/she said, ‘I can say that Swami Ramdas wrote in Hindi. Tulsidas wrote in Hindi. And after this the modern saint Swami Dayanand also wrote in Hindi. he/she was a Gujarati but he/she wrote in Hindi. Why did he/she write in Hindi? Because Hindi was the national language of the country.’ Apart from this, citing Mahatma Gandhi, he/she said that when the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi came to the Congress, he/she spoke in Hindi instead of English.

‘Hindi cannot be called an official language’

H.R. Gurev Reddy of Mysore stood up in front of the Constituent Assembly to oppose Dhulekar. he/she asked, can we not call it the official language? To this Dhulekar insisted, ‘I call it the official language and national language. You may have a different opinion. You may belong to another nation but I belong to India. I am unable to understand why it cannot be the national language. Now that we are nationalists, we can say that Hindi is the national language. You can call it the official language.’

When many members protested

Another member objected to Dhulekar’s statement and said that we are not bound to accept your decision. Dhulekar replied that some people are saying that they cannot learn Hindi. I want to ask, so what is your official language in the world? Giving the example of Russia, he/she said, ‘I was once told that when our ambassador in Russia submitted some documents in English, Russia refused to accept it. They said that it should be written in our language. This is Russia which thinks about its language.’

The issue of making Sanskrit the national language was raised

This debate was stopped by the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, Rajendra Prasad, and he/she demanded approval of Hindi in Devanagari script. After this, another member of the assembly, Pandit Laxmikant Mishra put forward his/her point. he/she proposed to make Sanskrit the official language. Mishra said, “Let me tell you that when the country became independent, it should have an official language which is also the national language. And if there is any such language, then it is Sanskrit.” Some members agreed with his/her statement, while some opposed it.

What were the arguments given against Hindi?

After this, Frank Anthony presented his/her views. he/she discussed Hindi and English in detail. he/she said that there was a lot of discussion on Hindi in the meeting. he/she said that he/she has lived among Hindi speaking people but the reality is that if you write the Constitution in Hindi, how many people will be able to understand it. I tried to read and understand the Hindi translation but could not succeed in it. I do not understand how Hindi’s growth will stop if it does not become the national language. I want to say that everyone should believe that there must be a national language. My mother tongue is English. But I know that English cannot be the national language of this country for many reasons.

National language debate English

After this, A. Krishnaswamy Iyer of Madras said that in this assembly there are either Hindi speaking members or non-Hindi speaking members. Sarangdhar Das of Odisha said that speakers from non-Hindi speaking states should get more opportunities. Only Hindi speaking people should not get a chance to express their views. One interesting thing about this debate on the national language was that most of the speakers were speaking in English. The Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was also giving guidelines in English. It was an irony that the advocacy for making Hindi the official language was also being done in English.

The debate on the national language started on 12 September and lasted for two days. However, this debate did not yield any result. In the end, the President Dr. Rajendra Prasad gave his/her speech. he/she said that the decision of the Constituent Assembly on the subject of language should be accepted by the entire country. There should not be any right to arouse emotions for the language. After this debate, Hindi could never become the national language.