OK, we have had enough talks in the last year and enough clashes over language and regional divide. Hindi speakers are being a little bit discriminated now in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and the entire south India.

Raj Thackeray claims that the north Indians don’t respect the local culture and language, i. e. Marathi and impose Hindi in the garb of ‘national language’. (Visit this for reading what his thoughts are on his official website and not what media claims, this and this for a good interview). Same feeling is felt among the Bangalore locals, and the elite also supports in this. BY the way, where are they wrong? For a Marathi, Pune is the culture capital and they would like all cultural activities there, or an influence of Marathi there, whereas same is the case with Kannadigas regarding Bangalore. In Bangalore, a resentment against the north Indians is already visible. We can’t hide our heads in the sand and ignore the problem as if nothing has happened.

In BMC (Mumbai’s municipal corporation), Samajwadi party activists wanted Marathi to be removed from the office and instead wanted Hindi to be the official language all across Mumbai. Same is in Bangalore. no such political party has yet been formed, but north Indians are in a way requested to learn Kannadiga.

A term called “Hindi Imperialism” has come to birth. We need not have to ponder over the Bihari recruits found in Railways. Lalu ensured their jobs though illegally, and now even in Hyderabad’s South Central Railway Division, there are 80% Bihari employees, in Mumbai there are 95%! So, wouldn’t locals resent?

So, finally coming to the main issue, what do we do regarding the language problem? Okay, Hindi is the national language and all, but doesn’t the sovereignty of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu doesn’t mean anything? If north Indians, or for that matter, any other language speakers are say settled in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmadabad, for a period of 5 years or more, shouldn’t they learn the basics of local language and give respect to the place where they have got their jobs or business settled? Will it not make them better Indians? The free Marathi class started by MNS got a pathetic response. The media and people blame politicians for dividing India, but are the people really that worthy of Indian integrity?

Today, pluralism of races is virtually non - existent in the Hindi speaking states. How many places can one show in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh or Bihar that have people settling in who talk various languages? Most of these people have never seen non - Hindi speaking people.

Today, Hindi is compelled to learn in all states. the south Indians find it particularly difficult and a bit of burden as Hindi bears little or no resemblance with the 4 south Indian languages. But, then shouldn’t at least one regional language of India be compelled in the Hindi speaking states? What is the problem if Hindi speaking states are compelled to learn one regional language, viz. any one of the following: Punjabi, Kashmiri, Bengali, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannadiga, Telugu, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam. I am saying any one, not all. Alternately, every new year of the school, basics of all this language may be taught to school students. I can’t get what’s the matter regarding this, as I find this is only going to help integrate the nation better. I don’t think there will be a stiff opposition from these states, and if there is, “Hindi imperialism” will be taken seriously.

In all these states where pluralism is non - existent, the availability of one teacher teaching all these languages would give a glimpse to the students on how different languages and cultures in India are. The non - Hindi speaking people of India are not second rate citizens and that is something that should be imbibed in the school students of Hindi speaking students.

Look at France, Japan, Germany or the eastern nations, those protecting and respecting their culture, language and literature build societies with good self - esteem and confidence. That fact is visible even in India where the non - Hindi states respecting their culture are developing like Gujarat and Maharashtra.