The constitution of India is the supreme law of the land which means that it has the final authority and no one is above law irrespective of caste, creed, status, age etc. constitution was formed for the smooth functioning of the country and to provide the powers and protections to the people and government of India.
The Indian Constituent Assembly played a very crucial task in framing the constitution. It started its journey on 9th November 1946 when the first session of the Constituent Assembly was held and in 3 years, 2 months and 18 days it presented the Constitution of India.
The Constituent Assembly was headed by DR. Rajendra Prasad who went on to become the first President of an Independent India and the drafting committee was chaired by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.
The constituent assembly understood the vitality of the task they have taken responsibility for. Thus, they very carefully negotiated through the very contentious issues and arrived at consensus.
Debates and discussions formed the very integral part of the conduction of the sessions. Except for the Universal Adult Franchise almost every other issue be it secularism, gender rights, minority rights, federalism was extensively debated.
It did not fail to recognise the importance of the language issue and thus made it the part of discussion and very interestingly the issue of language was the one which was debated for the longest period of time right from 10 December 1946 to September 1949.
The Indian Constituent Assembly is a diverse body, in the sense that it included people from all walks of life. Rainbow of religion, gender, caste, class, ideologies, minorities found place in the Constituent Assembly.
Thus, various opinions were presented and it was not a good way of excluding even one opinion. It had to be a decision which would suit all the members so that no section was alienated.
Considering language as the diverse variable, people speaking various regional languages were sitting in the Constituent Assembly and so it became obvious that to any question of language which was raised there were many opinions, objections and rejections.
Why was the language issue so crucial?
India had so many languages and dialects at the time of independence so it became a task to decide on one language because along the north-west-east-south India was to be considered a single unit, un-fragmented and unified.
So in what language the official orders and notifications will be passed became a question which needed instant solution.
Secondly, since language is a very integral part of a culture and people feel affiliated to it thus, it becomes a very sensitive issue. There was also a fear that separatist tendencies would aggravate if everybody was to decide themselves.
In the same context people were quite fearful that their language would lose its importance if some other language was prioritised over theirs. They were insecure.
Here the language was acting as an agent which would divide the country but how to convert it into a device which would unite the country. Language is an agent which would help in the nation-building process and hence its importance.
Questions relating to the language in the Constituent Assembly
A) What will be the official language of the country?
B) Status of regional language and English
C) Will there be any national language of India?
Essentially, the debate came up to be between three languages: Hindi, Hindustani or Hindavi and English.
Apart from the regional languages Hindi was the one mostly spoken in the north India, south India has majority of English speakers excluding regional languages and Hindustani was taken into account because it was the amalgamation of both Urdu and Hindi and very ardently propounded by Mahatma Gandhi.
Members such as R.V. Dhulekar and Seth Govind Das were proponents of the Hindi language as the national language. S.V. Krishnamoorthy Rao and others from the south proposed the use of English.
Mohd. Hifzur Rahman and Maulana Azad argued for the use of Urdu. But that was not all. Others also raised their concerns with regards to the status of Bengali, Punjabi being in use.
Despite this intense debate, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first PM of independent India cautioned everyone particularly the majority Hindi supporters. against imposing or forcing any language upon the other group of supporters.
G. Durgabai also stated in the assembly that the anti-hindi struggle in the south is very strong and that they haven’t succeeded in convincing the people. Others also said that if the Hindi supporters will be so violent then we will also withdraw our support.
Maulana Azad made a remarkable speech and said how narrow-mindedness reigned supreme.
To solve all these contestation, initially on September 12, 1948 Munshi-Ayyangar formula was proposed in the assembly with the idea that it will solve the issue and all the warring groups will accept it but actually, it wasn’t accepted and instead was heavily debated upon and it was only on 14, 1949 that the formula was accepted with a few amendments.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, later in the evening of 14 September, 1949 said in the assembly that the consensus has been reached and it has been decide that Hindi in Devanagari script will be the official language of India alongside English being into practice for 15 years until the majority of the Indian population is well versed with it.
Thus, the India Constitution in its article 343(1) lays down the proviso regarding official language. India does not have any national language. Also, in Schedule 8 of the Indian constitution, 22 languages have been classified as scheduled languages.
Written By - Disha
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