16/06/2012

These contents of textbooks


No sooner had the hoo-hah on the cartoons of Dr. Ambedkar in a book of government publication wing NCERT cooled down than one more cartoon related to the anti-Hindi movement of South India published in another book came to light. DMK and some other groups said that the anti-Hindi agitation has been presented erroneously in the cartoon. The issue was still hot when the leaders of Tamil Nadu raised one more question. PMK party leader S Ramdas and MDMK leader Vaiko on Jun 9 revealed in Madras that in the Social Science textbooks of state government syllabus for Classes VIII and X Devanagri Hindi has been mentioned as Selected National Language and teachers have been teaching this subject all over the state. They said this is a historical mistake. Hindi is not the national language; it is simply a government language. Ramdas has demanded that this lesson should be immediately deleted and a criminal case be initiated against those responsible for preparing the text. Had it not been done, a state level agitation will be launched. (The Asian Age, Jun 10) According to reports, anti-Hindi campaign in Tamil Nadu is hotting up once again.

Why the element of hatred?
These three kinds of agitation are for one cause, but the element of ‘hatred’ has been included therein to put weight in it and make it popular. This is human weakness and also the Indian tradition. No agitation succeeds without violent hatred. While there should be no need of hateful agitation for proper demands, but people do this as without it attention is not paid to a demand. Kanshi Ram and his successor made their debut in the political field with the slogan “Tilak, Tarazoo aur Talwar, inko maro joote chaar”. This movement of theirs against Brahmins and so-called high classes proved successful. They made Dr. Ambedkar enjoy a high place in Indian politics or got his due place restored; however now the situation is that no one dares to speak against the doctor. – The history of anti-Hindi sentiment in South India is very old. Big protests against Hindi were staged for the first time in Madras state in 1938. When Hindi was declared as State language of the country in 1965, the entire Tamil Nadu witnessed violent protests and a precedent of self-immolation was established. Thereafter the power of Dravid parties in the state was recognised.

Social scientists should take notice of it
There is some semblance between the demands of Dalit castes and the Dravid cause though their violent strategies cannot be supported. But some people exploit this formula just to divide human beings and to make their respective castes popular. Forty-five years ago, Balasaheb Thackeray started his campaign in Maharashtra by making speeches, writing articles and sketching cartoons against the people of South India living in Bombay; he got popularity in no time. Later on, he made some other experiments with this formula. And today he is considered the uncrowned king of Mumbai. Twenty years ago Uma Bharati attained popularity by making incessant speeches against Muslims and targeting Babri Masjid. Some more people got fame by getting that historical structure demolished. Ten years ago chief minister of Gujarat led a hateful campaign against one section of his own public; as a result thousands of people were done to death. And even today he is “popular” due to this very “achievement” of his (this is sheer absurdity that he is popular due to developmental work in the state). During the general elections in 2009 a young leader in UP got “popularity” in no times by abusing Muslims right from the stage. – This is a very typical situation of Indian electoral politics. Social scientists should take notice of it.
16//06/12 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

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