Hindi has the potential to unite the country and 'chase away' English, which has 'enslaved' India, RSS organ 'Panchjanya' has said.

New Delhi: Hindi has the potential to unite the country and "chase away" English, which has "enslaved" India, RSS organ 'Panchjanya' has said.

An editorial in 'Panchjanya', published to coincide with Hindi Diwas, also took a dig at Congress that ruled for decades after independence and said while Constitution makers wanted the national language to replace English in 15 years, "centres of power" were not dedicated to Hindi and "hatched conspiracies" to organise other Indian languages against it.

"Hindi's ability to unite India is a threat to all those forces which want the country to remain enslaved to English. Hindi is not against India's regional languages. This is a myth being perpetuated...

"English is entrenched deeply in the Supreme Court functioning, file notings of bureaucracy and conduct of policy discussions, which is very dangerous," the editorial said.

The cover article in the RSS mouthpiece also said, "Hindi is the language with the potential to chase away English from the country. It will prosper along with other regional languages." It said efforts are being made to grant Hindi the status of an official language at the United Nations.

It said adequate political interest was not shown in fulfilling the desire of our the makers of Indian Constitution to enable Hindi replace English in 15 years.

"The centres of power were not dedicated to Hindi, the language through which Mahatma Gandhi woke up the nation and which was key to the lively speeches of Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh. On the contrary, conspiracies were hatched to organise other Indian languages against Hindi," it said.

The RSS mouthpiece said, "English is not a language of our preference. It was imposed on us by British. Although we have attained freedom, we are still the slaves of English."

"India can still be seen as fighting for complete independence. A critical point in the ongoing India versus Bharat debate is certainly English versus Hindi debate.

"While Hindi has public support (janadhaar), English has the market (bazaar) and the court (durbar). If Hindi has to be taken forward, for it to become an organ of Bharat's self respect, progress and pride, it should be strengthened," it said.

The RSS journal also took a dig at present Congress leadership for allegedly using Roman script to write their Hindi speeches.

It alleged that an impression was being created by pro-English language elements that those speaking Indian regional languages were opposed to Hindi. There is an attempt to create a divide on the basis of language so that Hindi does not get the status of national language, it said.

"There is therefore the need to identify and tackle anti-Hindi forces. Strengthening Hindi is strengthening the nation. Hindi must become a language of choice in policy making. It deserves political patronage," the RSS mouthpiece said.

It said if Hindi is to become "the symbol of Bharat overtaking the English-dominated India, it has to be strengthened and efforts made to promote it."

Noting that even on the political platform "Hindi is now consistently outshining English", the RSS organ said it is becoming very powerful in India and no foreign company can sell its products without marketing in the language.

In another article, it said Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay argued for the use of Hindi in dialogue with foreign nations and said we as Indians should voluntarily bid farewell to English out of our sense of national pride and dignity.

It recalled the RSS ideologue's remark that till the time English is in use the country cannot claim to be truly independent. "We should free ourselves from the shackles of English, even if it means putting ourselves at a disadvantage in gaining scientific knowledge," it said.

PTI