Tongue ties

Thank You Raj Thackeray for the fresh blister on democracy and reopening old wounds.
There is a loud murmur in Tamil Nadu. M.K. Azhagiri, whose father M.K. Karunanidhi arm-twisted the government into making his Madurai veeran son the Union chemical and fertilizers minister, now wants to be allowed to communicate in Tamil in Parliament. However, this request comes in the wake of the fact that he is not particularly proficient in English and Hindi, used for conduct of business in Parliament. This is, by the way, a request, which the speaker, Meira Kumar, will try and sort out by this week.
But this is just a small, single column story in newspapers. The fine print is that the rival AIADMK boss, Jayalalitha, has been silently but steadily adding fuel through her generous bytes in support of this request. Now, this could transform the small, single column story to a headline-hogger. She has even cited the DMK’s oft-repeated statement: “Let Tamil live even if we were to fall,” indicating that the DMK must be ready to quit the UPA Cabinet if Tamil language was seen “falling” in Parliament. Why this sudden tongue tie?
Even the Shiv Sena has provided the linguistic aftershocks supporting the arch rival MNS’ tremor in Maharashtra Assembly on the issue of taking oath in Marathi. Affections are flying high for the Maratha champions now, with MNS even threatening to bash up anyone uttering a word against the original Maratha guardian, Balasaheb Thackeray, but now their rival.
Kudos to madam Jayalalitha for this masterstroke.
Stoking the language issue, that too in Tamil Nadu, which has immortalized the Dravidian movement and its Hindi agitation, is a master strategy. Her subtle sound bytes might be aimed at a bigger bite in the next Assembly poll share.
Hindi is a politically explosive device in Tamil Nadu. The DMK or the AIADMK have kept their tongue in check for a long time now after becoming major players in the national political arena.
To be fair to Azhagiri, language will be a constraint for him while conducting business in Parliament. He is not proficient in Hindi or English. Then the question arises, why Hindi? I know I am stirring the hornet’s nest by questioning our national language. But the north-south language barrier is stark. While Hindi is a cakewalk for north Indians, with just minor alterations in their tongue, it is cumbersome for those in the south. The languages are very different from Hindi, with no lexicon link. Those in the south of the Vindhyas have to learn an additional language which is in no way related to their own. So there is a certain deal of injustice in upholding Hindi as a national language. But what is the option in a multi-lingual set-up like ours. English. But that is a foreign language. Why should we let a foreign language that invaded our homes long back to stay on? The argument is, it is a new language that everybody has to learn across the nation. At least there is no inequality in asking one region to learn a completely alien language. Everyone will have to learn this. So we can all keep our regional pride intact, and uniformly twist our tongue for English.
Can we strike a deal, Raj Thackeray?