4. Linguism

Linguism means love for one’s language and hatred towards other language-speaking people. The phenomena of linguism, like that of regionalism, communalism or casteism, is also a consequence of political process. It has two dimensions: (a) the reorganisation of states on the basis of language; and (b) the determination of the official language of the Union.

The creation of the first linguistic state of Andhra out of the then Madras state in 1953 led to the countrywide demand for the reorganisation of states on the basis of language. Consequently, the states were reorganised on a large-scale in 1956 on the basis of the recommendations made by the States Reorganisation

Commission6 (1953-1955). Even after this, the political map of India underwent a continuous change due to the pressure of popular agitations and the political conditions, which resulted in the bifurcation of existing states like Bombay, Punjab, Assam, and so on. By the end of 2000, the number of states and union territories had reached 28 and 7 from that of 14 and 6 in 1956 respectively7 .‌

The enactment of the Official Language Act (1963) making Hindi as the Official Language of the Union led to the rise of anti- Hindi agitation in South India and West Bengal. Then, the Central government assured that English would continue as an 'associate’ official language so long as the non-Hindi speaking states desire it. Moreover, the three-language formula (English, Hindi and a regional language) for school system is still not being implemented in Tamil Nadu8. Consequently, Hindi could not emerge as the lingua franca of the composite culture of India as desired by the framers of the Constitution.

The problem of linguism got accentuated with the rise of some regional parties in recent times like the TDP, AGP, Shiv Sena and so on.