What is Bharat's language?

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Is it Bengali? Is it Sanskrit? Is it Punjabi? Is it Malayli? Or maybe English?

 

[Rajdeep]

India is an union of states and each has their own language, culture and food. There is no one official language but Hindi is widely spoken across North India. However, Hindi as we speak in daily life, is not a mother tongue of any state. For example, people of UP at home speaks either Awadhi or Maithili, Biharis speaks bhojpuri, MP walas speaks Magadhi etc etc. In Eastern or Southern India, Hindi is not very common and people mostly communicate in their regional language or English.

In India, English is considered a must have to get a good job or become successful. In other words if can't communicate in English, people consider you as illiterate and look down on you. So most affluent families send their kids to English medium schools from kinder garden. As a result English is a widely spoken language in India, especially in South and East India.

 

[ex-q-zit]

India has 22 official languages and contrary to popular misconception Hindi is not teh national language. In fact India doesn't have any national language. Also Bharat is not a new term that has been coined by BJP. In our constitution the country is referred to as both India and Bharat. India/Bharat cannot have a single language like how Pakistan imposed Urdu on all its provinces because many of our non-hindi speaking states especially the southern states have their own rich culture and tradition. Laugauages in South have been identified as 1000s of years old. Just like how Bangladesh didn't accept Urdu imposition these states will not accept hindi imposition. I am from South India and even in the south each state differs in teh way we dress, speak, eat and take pride in them.

 

[Saanji]

Is it Bengali? Is it Sanskrit? Is it Punjabi? Is it Malayli? Or maybe English?

It's the language of peace and unity in diversity

 

[Mockingbird]

It's a simple enough question, if you don't want to answer then ignore. Why bring Pakistan into it, and then irony of ironies ask for mod intervention?

Your intention is very apparent, Capt Rishwat

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Your intention is very apparent, Capt Rishwatkhor.

I only asked because one of our hindutva vanguards kept referring to Khalistan as Empty Land, I thought he was referring to a different language, only now realised he was actually mocking the Sikh faith. This is why I wanted to clarify the language of Bharat, pardon my confusion.

 

[Technics 1210]

Well according to Wiki, there is no national language, but there are official languages of India : Indian English and Modern Standard Hindi.

Interestingly, the official languages of British India before independence were English, Standard Urdu and later Modern Standard Hindi.

I have no idea what Indian English is though, but suffice to say, English, the relic of the British Empire, is here to stay in India.

I'd have though the Hindutva government would push for Hindi to be the national language.

Languages with legal status in India - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[KingKhanWC]

What does Modi speak?

India would love it to be English. I was speaking to an Indian immigrant once, so told him I can understand Hindi but for some reason he was more comfortable speaking in broken, bad English to me.

 

[rickroll]

What does Modi speak?

India would love it to be English. I was speaking to an Indian immigrant once, so told him I can understand Hindi but for some reason he was more comfortable speaking in broken, bad English to me.

My guess is that he was a south indian who does not speak hindi.

Well according to Wiki, there is no national language, but there are official languages of India : Indian English and Modern Standard Hindi.

Interestingly, the official languages of British India before independence were English, Standard Urdu and later Modern Standard Hindi.

I have no idea what Indian English is though, but suffice to say, English, the relic of the British Empire, is here to stay in India.

I'd have though the Hindutva government would push for Hindi to be the national language.

Languages with legal status in India - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I hear that they do want to make hindi their national language but the non-hindi speaking states in the east and south of india are blocking that move.

 

[rickroll]

Language apparently is a very emotive issue in India and coincidentally I was talking about this with some of the local indians in my area. I hear that many of the northern states speak languages that are variants of hindi or are closely related to hindi in terms of script/grammar/words. But the languages in the south and north east have completely different roots and also different script and grammar rules. So they have very less in common with Hindi.

Sometime in the 60s they had the federal government attempting to make hindi a national language but that resulted in language riots in the south. It was subsequently withdrawn. I learned more about it from this wikipedia article, quite an interesting read I gotta say - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil_Nadu

But I hear to this day many of the hindi speaking folks do claim that hindi is the national language while the south indians contest that citing their constitution.

saying this in pure jest ....

Best way to trigger a north indian, ask - "Why is hindi not the national language of india?"
Best way to trigger a south indian, ask - "Why do you not speak hindi even though it is your national language?"

 

[Major]

India has 22 official languages and contrary to popular misconception Hindi is not teh national language. In fact India doesn't have any national language. Also Bharat is not a new term that has been coined by BJP. In our constitution the country is referred to as both India and Bharat. India/Bharat cannot have a single language like how Pakistan imposed Urdu on all its provinces because many of our non-hindi speaking states especially the southern states have their own rich culture and tradition. Laugauages in South have been identified as 1000s of years old. Just like how Bangladesh didn't accept Urdu imposition these states will not accept hindi imposition. I am from South India and even in the south each state differs in teh way we dress, speak, eat and take pride in them.

pakistan did not impose urdu at province level. They imposed it at federal level

 

[IamIndian]

Is it Bengali? Is it Sanskrit? Is it Punjabi? Is it Malayli? Or maybe English?

There is no such language as Malayali! It is Malayalam

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

There is no such language as Malayali! It is Malayalam

My bad, I apologise for mispronouncing it.

Urdu is based on Hindi I would imagine, it sounds almost identical. Imagine if both Pakistan and Bharat had a national language which was basically the same.

 

[Romali_rotti]

I only asked because one of our hindutva vanguards kept referring to Khalistan as Empty Land, I thought he was referring to a different language, only now realised he was actually mocking the Sikh faith. This is why I wanted to clarify the language of Bharat, pardon my confusion.

I am living in a few Britstanis' mind rent free.

This thread I take as a compliment.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Officially they have around 22 different languages.

However their unofficial language is hypocrisy and shrill shouting in accented English.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Language apparently is a very emotive issue in India and coincidentally I was talking about this with some of the local indians in my area. I hear that many of the northern states speak languages that are variants of hindi or are closely related to hindi in terms of script/grammar/words. But the languages in the south and north east have completely different roots and also different script and grammar rules. So they have very less in common with Hindi.

Sometime in the 60s they had the federal government attempting to make hindi a national language but that resulted in language riots in the south. It was subsequently withdrawn. I learned more about it from this wikipedia article, quite an interesting read I gotta say - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations_of_Tamil_Nadu

But I hear to this day many of the hindi speaking folks do claim that hindi is the national language while the south indians contest that citing their constitution.

saying this in pure jest ....

Best way to trigger a north indian, ask - "Why is hindi not the national language of india?"
Best way to trigger a south indian, ask - "Why do you not speak hindi even though it is your national language?"

On a series note I found it amazing that the PM speaks in a language that large sections of the population have no clue about.

Yet the centre is still quite strong.

Its quite astounding when you think about how you have still managed to create a common identity despite the numerous differences across India.

 

[rickroll]

On a series note I found it amazing that the PM speaks in a language that large sections of the population have no clue about.

Yet the centre is still quite strong.

Its quite astounding when you think about how you have still managed to create a common identity despite the numerous differences across India.

I think the Indians have more political representation from the north and parties like bjp can hold onto power with only their hindi voter base due to the lopsided political representation of the north.

Again - any of the Indian PPers here please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Technics 1210]

On a series note I found it amazing that the PM speaks in a language that large sections of the population have no clue about.

Yet the centre is still quite strong.

Its quite astounding when you think about how you have still managed to create a common identity despite the numerous differences across India.

When Modi did his Western tour after becoming PM, the number comment from his fans was - "Wa kiya angrezi bol ta ha!"

 

[leonidas_alexandar]

On a series note I found it amazing that the PM speaks in a language that large sections of the population have no clue about.

Yet the centre is still quite strong.

Its quite astounding when you think about how you have still managed to create a common identity despite the numerous differences across India.

India certainly is a modern day geographical miracle - most states in India could become their own countries given their unique language, culture and large size. In fact I see India as a union of various sub-nationalities.

For example my first language is Telugu and I can define myself as a Telugu person through my distinct language, script, food, clothing style, history, folklore, festivals celebrated which are endemic to my particular region etc., but I'd be hard pressed to define my Indianness. Indianness is this elastic but strong common feeling that sits as a sub-layer.

Practically speaking most states also realize their economic well-being is in to reside in a bigger country called India than to go their own way - being part of India means having access to the entire country's economy, being protected by a bigger military, which is why the occasional calls for separate statehood usually do not catch any wind at all especially in the southern part of India where I originally come from.

Believe it or not but cricket (occasions like the Asian games) and movies serve a huge cultural role in serving as that collective glue to keep the country united. Well publicized endeavors like ISRO's space missions give people that sense of collective achievement.

I believe it is in India's best interest to have that elastic federal structure where multiple identities co-exist simultaneously and are allowed to express their identities freely and fully.

Speaking of Modi - while he has his popularity in the southern part of India - it simply has never been enough to push BJP into the consciousness of the South. BJP barely has any presence except in Karnataka and even there they got roundly beaten in the recent elections.