Utopia of Language: on the Backdrop of 21st February

Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi 1909 in his writings elaborated: "From the point of view of language before we can call ‘our country' our own, it is necessary that there should be born in our hearts a love and respect for our languages.” No words truer can express the beauty, aesthetics, purity and sanctity of language. It is often stated that our mother tongue is as reverent for us as our own mother. This alone can shed a light on the fact why language debates became such burning issues, cause of riots and wars, decisive of the political fates of competing parties in elections and overall the main reason behind linguistic reorganization of Indian states.

75% of Indian population are speakers of Indo-Aryan languages while 20% speak the Dravidian languages, with the rest minorities being speakers of Austro-Asiatic and Sino-Tibetan languages filling up the ethnic Indian diaspora. In Schedule VIII of Indian Constitution 22 regional languages are officially recognized as the predominantly majority speaking languages. Language alone can express the creative thoughts of an individual, erudite works of legends, the calligraphy of literary opulence while at the same time be the voice of our aspirations, hopes and progress. The 21^st February carries a special significance on the minds of Bengali speakers who fought and died for protecting the integrity of their mother tongue.