Webdesk: There has been increased opposition against the Indian government, and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been insistent on implementing Hindi language in the educational curriculum in some of the states.
The decision has caused an uproar and raised many political concerns, especially in the south and southeast regions of the nation.
A report posted by The New York Times shows this language policy is becoming perceived as a new political danger of the Modi government.
As noted in the report, Hindi language, widely used in northern India, is currently being aggressively imposed in southern and southeastern states.
There are over a thousand languages in India, and most of them are of cultural and emotional significance to the communities.
There are claims that the drive by the central government to make Hindi the pre-eminent language among others has compromised the linguistic multiplicity of the nation and poses a threat to regional identity.
States such as Maharashtra have already discarded their policy of requiring schools to include Hindi in their curriculum.
Tamil Nadu, a state that has a heavy linguistic identity in the south has challenged the decision in court.
The New York Times report highlights the fact that this imposition of Hindi is being viewed as a threat to local languages and the cultures that they carry.
The presence of local languages advocates claim that giving precedence to Hindi in education impairs the linguistic diversity of India and endangers the cultural identity of non-Hindi speaking states.
The protests have increased and are notably louder in different regions of the country where local people speak local languages and would prefer them more than the Hindi language.
The reaction is indicative of a profound anxiety that some interpret as a move to make language policy centralised at the cost of regional autonomy.
This move is cautionary as political analysts see this as a great threat to the federal structure of India and the linguistic harmony, possibly spreading regional tensions between the Hindi-speaking north and other linguistic zones of the state.
Read more: Pakistan weather update: PMD forecasts heavy rain, thunderstorms countrywide
