Karnataka: The politics of language

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From the Daily Pioneer

The politics of language

The orgy of violence unleashed by his fans in Bangalore following news of
the sudden demise of Kannada superstar Raj Kumar earlier this month, once
again drew attention to that southern alchemy of cinema and politics and
revived the debate on why followers of southern film stars go berserk when
something happens to their heroes. Many commentators in Delhi wondered why
fans of southern film stars are ready to kill themselves to show their
loyalty to their heroes - a tendency that you would never see among the
followers of Hindi film stars including those who swear by the biggest of
them all - Amitabh Bachchan.  The answer lies in the politics of language
that dominated national politics in the second half of the 20th century.
The reverence with which Raj Kumar's fans treated their hero was similar
to the adulation enjoyed by MG Ramachandran among the Tamils and NT Rama
Rao among the Telugus. All of them were superstars in their respective
States and what they did was to instill pride in these language groups,
arouse their consciousness and arm them with "atmagauravam".

In other words, MG Ramachandran, NT Rama Rao and Raj Kumar aroused the
sub-nationalist sentiments crucial to the development of the language and
culture of people in their states. Except students of history, the present
generation of Indians would be unaware of the bloody battles fought during
the 1950s and 1960s on this issue. Potti Sriramulu set the ball rolling
with his fast unto death for creation of a separate Telugu speaking state.
Andhra Pradesh emerged from the smouldering embers of the agitation that
followed Sriramulu's death and triggered the formation of States on
linguistic lines.  But the creation of these States only partly met the
aspirations of these linguistic groups because politicians like Ram
Manohar Lohia and political parties like the Jan Sangh and the Samyukta
Socialist Party, wanted Hindi to be the official language. This was
resisted by people in the southern region. Eventually, the three-language
formula was evolved to end the conflict and to allow non-Hindi states to
promote their languages as official languages within their territories.

This brought an end to the bitterness over language policy in the country.
Now, with the passage of time, several things have happened to bring about
the linguistic integration of the country. Indian politics entered the
coalition age a decade ago and enabled regional political parties like the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Telugu Desam to come to power at the
Centre. Power sharing at the federal level has lowered political
insecurities among different linguistic groups. This has also reduced
insecurity in the non-Hindi States in regard to preservation of their
respective languages and consequently brought down anti-Hindi feelings in
these regions. The end of Government's monopoly in television in the early
1990s has spawned dozens of satellite television channels offering
entertainment and news in all the major languages in the country. However,
since Hindi is the dominant market commanding close to 400 million
viewers, market forces have taken over and Hindi is gaining acceptability
across the country in a silent, peaceful way.

Finally, the IT revolution has opened the eyes of people in the Hindi belt
to the futility of their anti-English politics. They are chanting the
mantra of bilingualism and encouraging their wards to learn English. The
Hinglish content that you hear on radio and television these days is also
an acknowledgement of this emerging trend. In other words, the discord
over language in multi-lingual India has more or less come to an end. Raj
Kumar's death coincides with the end of the era of strife and the dawn of
the era of linguistic harmony. This now brings us to the issue of the
violence that followed Raj Kumar's death. As news of Raj Kumar's death
spread across Karnataka, his fans turned out in large numbers not only to
express their grief but to acknowledge their gratitude for a man who had
done so much for their language and culture.

The disturbances were largely brought about by administrative failure.
Having failed to make proper arrangements to regulate the movement of his
fans and to enable them to pay their respects to departed hero, the police
rained lathi blows on mourners, who responded by attacking Government and
private property.  Kannadigas owe a lot to Raj Kumar because they had to
contend not only with Hindi dominance but Tamil hegemony as well. This was
because of the huge influx of Tamils to Bangalore and several other towns
to take up low-end jobs in factories and farms. The Kannadigas, who were
much more laid back, thumbed their noses at blue collared jobs.

Four decades ago, the dream of an average Kannadiga was to become a Second
Division Clerk in Vidhana Soudha. Then something happened to shake him out
of his slumber. The locals realised that they would soon be swamped by the
Tamils. Kannadigas stood up to this attitude leading to bloody anti-Tamil
riots on a couple of occasions. The problem is not over because the Tamils
do not easily merge into their adopted States. It appears as if creating a
Karol Bagh wherever they go comes naturally to them. This promotes
separateness. Another set of people who moved into Karnataka were the
Sindhis, Marwaris and Punjabis. They set up private businesses and were
into money lending.  However, the Kapurs and Gills made no secret of their
disdain for the Kannada language and culture. But for a popular icon like
Raj Kumar, the Tamils and the businessmen from the North would have
overrun the place.  Raj Kumar was the firewall which protected Kannada.
The outpouring of grief that one witnessed on his death was the Kannadiga
salute to the man who had enabled them to preserve a language and culture
that is over 1,000 years go.

Finally a word about the attack on private cars and new economy businesses
in the wake of Raj Kumar's death. The nouveau rich techies who have made
Karnataka their home should adopt the language and culture of their
adopted State. As the well known litterateur, Dr UR Anantha-murthy, said
the other day in a television programme - if you are working in Paris, it
would be in your interest to learn French.

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