ANSAM opposes Hindi imposition in North East
Source: Chronicle News Service / Newmai News Network

Senapati, May 11 2022: All Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM) has strongly opposed the decision to impose Hindi as a compulsory subject up to class X in the North East states.

In a statement, the Naga students' body said that India is a union of states that embraces and celebrates its diversity.

Such pluralistic characters range from physical geography, political history, social fabric, religion, race, language and ways of life and it is this rich diversity that is recognised and sustained through the Constitution since independence.

Any callous political attempt to nullify this fundamental �pluralistic union to any form of a homogenous identity is thus insensitive, regressive and is reflective of the ruling dispensation s inconsiderate bent of mind towards smaller communities, ANSAM said in the statement, adding that such unconstitutional and undemocratic policy fundamentally overlooks the consequences to the already vulnerable smaller communities like Nagas, who have been struggling to preserve own unique identity and culture.

According to ANSAM, language is an intrinsic aspect of every culture and this character is synonymous with diverse tribal identity in the North East region.

It also said that Manipur is a state where 34 recognised tribes have thrived along with other non-tribal com munities.

Diverse languages are a predominant identity that is sung, spoken, written and preserved with pride and hence even the erstwhile attempt to make Meeteilon (Manipuri) compulsory in school syllabus was opposed tooth and nail by all the tribals including ANSAM and the same was eventually withdrawn, it reminded.

In such a sensitive back-drop, the abrupt decision to impose Hindi as a compulsory subject up to class X in the North East came as an extremely irrational and immature political move, ANSAM said adding that mandatory imposition of any language will threaten the survival of local/native/indigenous languages.

It warned that new policy not only carries the potent risk of widespread unrest but also that of irretrievably destroying the very ideals of Indian pluralistic character.

ANSAM maintained that Hindi is merely an official language which is not even spoken by half of the country.

Given this non-qualifiable statistical proportion of Hindi speaking population in India and even a lower percentage in the North East, promotion of the same as a national language is both irrelevant and condescending, it said.

According to the ANSAM.

indigenous communities like the Nagas see this as hegemonic imposition to an already vulnerable survival of traditional culture and identity.

The ANSAM then asserted that it will not accept any form of language imposition under any circumstances and rise to fight all out to protect and sustain age-old indige nous languages which have been in existence far before Indian Independence.

Instead of making unjustifiable imposition upon the young populace who are the future pillars of the society, government should strive to efficiently preserve and promote local tribal languages by increasing the composition and mandate of linguistic departments in the North East states, ANSAM said adding that peaceful co-existence of various communities cannot come through imposed policies but through mutual respect and preservation of pluralistic composition.

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