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Journalism of Courage
AHMEDABAD, Oct 1: India’s integration can survive only by keeping alive its linguistic and cultural diversity, says former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral.
Inaugurating a centre for learning of Hindustani and Urdu at Gujarat Vidyapeeth on Thursday, Gujral said languages could not be separated from the people and only the languages which were vibrant and open to change and expansion would survive, and others, however rich, were destined to be consigned to museums if remained stagnated.
He said government patronage and legislation alone were no guarantee for survival of language and culture without public support. Citing the erstwhile Soviet Union, he said even socialism could not save the empire when it tried to foist Russian on its constituents against their wishes. But, India’s biggest achievement in the past 50 years was that it remained united despite diverse languages and cultures, he added.
On promotion of Hindustani and Urdu, he said these should be preserved but other Indian languages also must be allowed to co-exist. Besides, he said the language of communication must acquire qualities necessary for making conveyance of ideas easier.
Gujral felt unity did not mean uniformity of language, religion, atire and culture, but unitedly preserving the diverse societies, cultures and languages. And India retained this diversity during the time of import of needles to its self-reliance in satellite technology. However, the great challenge ahead was to bring the 65 crore-odd middle-class people up the poverty line, spread literacy and control population.
Gujral also inaugrated an exhibition of Urdu-Hindi and other Indian language books, and released a Hindustani dictionary and Guldasta-e-Ghazal, a collection of ghazals by 10 living Urdu poets in Hindi.
Chancellor Ramlal Parikh said the Vidyapeeth’s insistence on its graduates acquirising proficiency in Urdu should not be seen as a Gandhian ritual but an expression of the commitment to achieving national integration through linguistic harmony. Vice-chancellor Govind Raval and Hindi scholar Ambashankar Nagar also spoke.
Later, speaking at a meeting of National Institute of Leadership and Public Administration (NILPA), Gujaral expressed concerned over the low literacy rate and the little progress since Independence. Show me a nation which is illiterate and it has developed and show me a nation which is literate and it is under-developed, said Gujral, in his speech on `The nation today and the way out: towards national development’. The other area of concern, according to him, was power to women and the failure in upliting them. Mrunalini Sarabhai and Nilpa trust chairman Hariprasad Vyas.
