Hindi

[rohan.oberoi at CORNELL.EDU]

Vidyasankar,

>>instead of cars to travel. Time to think about the sociological
>>implications of 100 years of blind Hindee enforcement by Sanghis.
>
>Sometimes, I don't know whether to be amused or annoyed with the
>blissful ignorance of recent Indian history in evidence on this
>list. By Sanghis, I presume Samar refers to the VHPites and their
>intellectual fathers in the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. Perhaps, memory
>needs to be refreshed. Till August 15, 1947, we had a few assorted
>viceroys from England. After that date, we have had the Congress
>party ruling over India for about 40 years out of the 54 years of
>independence (that is 80% of the time, for those so inclined to
>care). Those making decisions about "Hindee" were most often Nehru
>and his dynastic successors, with their chosen language lords and
>culture czars. How does Samar Abbas propose to account for 100 years
>of enforcement by Sanghis? Are we talking something sensible here, or
>is everything Indian to be held ransom to foolish political rhetoric?

I sympathise with your frustration, and I do think Samar is being
unnecessarily polemical and often wrong.  But it isn't quite accurate
to characterise the influence of 'Sanghis' as restricted to the brief
period of BJP governance in independent India, for several reasons;

- The Indian government pre-1947 was quite sensitive to prevailing
  Indian opinion, and certainly was not (as a lot of this sort of
  debate seems to assume) dictating policies without consideration of
  that opinion (which is not, of course, to claim that it was a
  democratic government - though whether present Indian governments
  meet that criterion either is also somewhat in question).

- The Congress party, both before and after independence, had a strong
  (I personally would say dominant) Hindu right wing that can only be
  with difficulty distinguished from the Sangh (cf. B.G. Tilak).
  Indira Gandhi's well known Hindu mobilisation and minority
  demonisation campaigns are only one facet of this.

Regards,
Rohan.