A nation on edge

Five years ago the Indian government launched an ambitious swadeshi movement dubbed ‘Make in India’. Five years down the line the union Home Minister Amit Shah advocates something on the lines of ‘One nation, one language’. And he thinks the language should be Hindi. I am seriously confused because the government’s pet slogan is in English, not Hindi (“Shah’s ‘one nation, one language’ idea draws fury,” Sept.15, Gulf Today).

There must be something seriously amiss, because Shah doesn’t seem to be on the same page as Mr. Modi. The ‘Make in India’ is the PM’s pet. Everything for him revolves around that slogan.  That apart the home minister needs to do some homework before he comes to the podium or else he could be putting his government in a terrible soup. The Eighth Schedule has enlisted 22 languages and Hindi is just one of those.

Shah’s remarks provoked angry reactions from all quarters and a clarification followed that he was misunderstood. That’s damage control, say multiple reports. Only time will tell whether he was misunderstood or the country is being held to ransom.

Kausal Srivastava
By email