| Leaving
aside the implications of the rise of the RSS-BJP-VHP combine as a
significant factor in Indian politics, it is about time we pay
attention to the hitherto neglected question of the impact of Hindi
on Muslim youth in North India. For all we know, a return, even if
slow, to one-culture situation may have begun. The process cannot
but be prolonged and painful and the pace may not be good enough for
modernists. But obsession with speed is alien to Indian civilization
which underwrites the Indian nation-state.
I for one see no alternative to it.
This is my view of the place of Muslims in India - one strand in the
multistrand Indian civilization interacting with others. This is
also my interpretation of what Pandit Nehru meant by cultural
synthesis. Only he did not attach to language the importance I do.
|
