The Hindi Debate

In modern-day India, Hindi has emerged as the dominant language for domestic affairs at the national level. The country's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, speaks almost exclusively in Hindi when addressing the nation. But, Hindi isn’t the only language spoken in India, nor is it the dominant language throughout the nation. In most of India, locals use English and regional languages when communicating with each other. So, if the country is so diverse, it would make sense to naturally default to English when conducting inter-regional affairs. This is the standard practice in other former British countries which have a variety of regional languages. For example, Nigeria has over 500 regional languages but defaults to English as the official language for ease of communication. So, why doesn’t India do the same, and why has the government made such an effort to push Hindi? My guess is to foster a sense of national identity in India and to break free of postcolonial English imperialism. However, India is a rich tapestry of languages, cultures, and people. Is it worth losing that for oneness to achieve a new national identity? And more importantly, does a language represent a nation’s identity, or should it be about shared values and ideals? Is India replacing English-Imperialism with Hindi-Imperialism?