Desh Duniya main pehchan badhayen [Raise India's identity in the world]

Apne Hind kaa abhimaan badhayein [Raise the pride of Hindi]

Aao mil kar Hindi ki shaan badhayen…[Come, let's raise the glory of Hindi]

For many years now, the government of India has been holding international Hindi literary meets in India or some country with a large number of Indians from the Hindi belt. These meets have been described by past participants as half-hearted and somewhat shabby mela-like affairs, with more netas, ministry babus and their bibis attending than genuine writers and practitioners of Hindi.The Vishwa Hindi Sammelan or the World Hindi Conference held in Bhopal from September 10 to 12 was comparatively much better planned and showcased, but it remained at heart a sarkari function. What was new was the undeniable political agenda it set out for Hindi.The presence of the prime minister, the home minister, the external affairs minister and several other senior colleagues, three governors (West Bengal, Goa and Orissa) appointed by the present government, and a large crowd of loudly applauding party workers with trademark saffron scarves transformed the occasion into a political celebration of Hindi, a language that the BJP hopes will soon surmount all opposition and be Hindustan’s national language, its Rashtra Bhasha – the national language.Large posters urged Hindi lovers to support Hindi as their badge of identity and national pride:The authorities, though, ought to know how one careless utterance by one of its generals may win it the battle of wits, but eventually lose the war. One crusty general, supervising the venue meticulously, courted controversy early on when he reportedly said that the Hindi writers had been deliberately left out of this Sammelan. They usually attend such conferences only to eat, drink, brawl and leave without transacting much business, he was reported to have said.This was not a literary meet, he suggested, but a conference to bring back the focus on Hindi language. Strange logic, considering how the town and the venue were all resplendent with images of celebrated Hindi writers, from Jai Shankar "Prasad" to Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" and Phanishwar Nath "Renu". Anyway, as the Kumaoni saying goes, "Saasu ki baatan ke saasu Jaanal, hum ke jananu, tum ke Jaanal! (only the mother-in-law knows what she thinks, neither you nor I can assume anything!)"Other predictable objects of the organisers’ bile were the English language, TRP-chasing private Hindi channels, and of course, western-style bazaarvaad, or market-economy. The last became somewhat diluted when the prime minister spoke glowingly of the untapped power of Hindi to rule the global markets and the social media.The prime minister’s speech, in a way embodied the paradoxes at the heart of the establishment’s stance towards Hindi. The government wants a pure Hindi, freed of all "foreign" (read English and Persian) influences that are associated with India’s colonised past, but also wants it to monetise Hindi by using its vast communication potential in both the Indian political arena and the global marketplace. He said how he, a young Gujarati tea vendor, learnt Hindi from his North Indian customers. Apart from generating a good income for him, Hindi proved to be a great asset later for communicating effectively with the masses and forming a direct bond with them.He nodded in gratitude to great Hindi writers, like the Bihar stalwart Phanishwar Nath "Renu", but only in passing. He firmly pointed out how unlike previous International Hindi meets, the 10th Hindi Sammelan would only focus on Hindi as a language with a huge untapped communication and commercial potential in the global markets .The participants in the Sammelan were, therefore expected to deliberate upon how to cleanse, polish and link the Hindi language firmly to the latest communication technologies and monetise it. Once it was done, our jobless youth would have jobs and India would regain its glory and national pride.To keep the monologue within the realm of rational persuasion, the prime minister said that Hindi must remain open to words coming in from other languages . He should know as he himself used, as a fellow editor was to remark, some 50-odd English words in his speech.A fast learner, our prime minister is a well-travelled man and has lectured the United States and the United Arab Emirates, advised Nepal, scolded Pakistan. In massive shows, his Non-Resident Indian fans give him a standing ovation each time he finishes his Hindi speech about Achhe Din for Mother India and see no discrepancy when he switches to an English phrase such as "Yes,we can, and we will!"Presidents of multinational corporations seek him out, delegates of more or less respectable governments shower praises and gifts on him. They will all doubtless jump at being able to enter the Indian market, and are likely to remain unimpressed and unmoved if litterateurs are left out of Hindi meets, a couple of rationalists are shot dead by goons or books are banned "for hurting Hindu sentiments" and channels are served notices for allegedly criticising the government.So the Very Very Important Persons went back to Delhi and the discussions began the next day.At the session this writer chaired, one learnt that the operative word for discussing Hindi usage in the media was shuddhata (purity). The session was titled: "Hindi Patrakaarita aur Sanchar Madhyamon mein Bhasha Ki Shuddhata (Hindi Journalism and the Purity of Language in the media)".Instead of the chairperson, the subject was set out by a special entity described as Vishay Pravartak (Initiator of the Subject). His longish speech was an example of the kind of Hindi that school children dread and writers snigger at. But it was obvious it was well rehearsed and choreographed. He spoke about how pure Hindi espoused by so many of India’s great leaders was, of late, seen to be becoming increasingly polluted by English words used by the privately owned media, both print and visual.Hindi papers and channels that sold in millions and were watched all over India, he charged, were convincing the impressionable young that pushing in "foreign" words was "smart", that it would raise their esteem among their peer group. It was no mere accident, he thundered, but a well thought out strategy mounted by vested interest groups that wanted to denigrate and destabilise India and Indian culture.Timely efforts must be made by all those gathered in Bhopal, we were reminded, towards challenging the colonisers’ legacy of unnecessary intrusion of Persian and English in every sphere of public life from the courts to institutes of higher learning. English was a package that brought in degenerate ideas and western cultural values in an India that enjoyed a rich cultural heritage that was thousands of years old. There must be a thorough cleansing (shuddhekaran) of Hindi in the media, if we are to return to our roots, our Indian values.At this point, several young men and women were seen to be struggling against those manning the doors to the venue. Finally one of them managed to force his way in and yelled out that they were media men and women and students of media studies from various parts of the state who were being kept out. They were being told, he said, that the session was not open to them but only to select people with a special pass.As the invited speakers insisted that they be allowed in, the organiser mumbled into the mike something about there being no hostility towards media and lack of space being the only reason, and finally gave in when it was pointed out that those outside could sit on the floor and in the aisle if need be.By now, one could see a tenuous link between who were let in and those who were not. Among those left out were several well-known writers from the host state, many of them graced with a Padma award or the prestigious Sahitya Akademy Samman. Many academics not too close to the ruling dispensation and students of journalism were likewise being kept out. In short, all who may be inclined to challenge the organisers’ version of linguistic purity.What should have been a ceremony of Hindi authors, researchers, content creators and their avid consumers, was thus, by September 11, well on its way to being reduced to a series of dull technical discussions on Hindi software and hardware, text books and literature for children in Hindi.Indian representatives of major global technology companies and social sites were present, as were some participants from countries with people of Indian descent from the great 19th-century North Indian diaspora . Most of them, however, speak Hindi dialects and use French, English or creole or Afrikaans back home.Unfortunately, the minister for external affairs, who was one of the main organisers and is herself a well-read, pragmatic and intelligent communicator, was unavailable. She had to rush to Delhi due to an undisclosed family emergency. So a series of discussions on communication, with an increasingly evident "Hindi Hindu Hindustan" mindset among both the organisers and those that were allowed in, loomed large with no one to restore some sort of balance. Invitees, we were told, had mostly been picked in Delhi by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh that had also suggested the priorities and programme for the conference.An RSS meeting earlier had already hinted that till such time as Hindi is officially declared the Rashtra Bhasha, or National Language, the government of India must see to it that much of the business of the state (inclusive of notings and signatures on files) be carried out in Hindi.Proposals put out during the conference followed the line with a Union minister, himself a doctor, suggesting that doctors be asked to write their prescriptions in Hindi. Another suggestion was that the government-sponsored Hindi advertisements stop using Roman for disseminating public messages and use the Devanagari script instead.The inference was clear: The Sangh wanted compliance and the government meant business .A regime that systematically destroys a country's intelligentsia and composite culture and the hybridised popular languages it speaks in, is usually one that comes to power with an army of followers with thick skins and great internal resilience. By destroying everything in their path, these foot-soldiers create an empty, barren field where no fresh thought can survive. Later, when there are no independent experts left, nor great institutes of learning, when the soldiers leave the barracks and come out eager to learn, they will find they have nowhere to study, let alone build a Great Civilisation.