An English professor writes: Why Hindi is to blame for the decline of India’s other languages

The noise around English and its role in India’s cultural disintegration has not subsided after 78 years of independence. Whenever someone discusses language extinction, English is invariably the villain of the story.

This characterisation of English is incongruent with lived reality. But the language serves the purpose of a common enemy.

The harrowing, brutal way in which it came to Indians and its role in the construction of the postcolonial Indian elite makes English a sore spot. It is also the language of a great many institutions with a pronounced British heritage. Understandably, the popular narrative renders English as the prime culprit driving the shrinking footprint of India’s native languages.

But if one looks closely at how local languages actually recede in everyday life, the story appears far more intricate. English is certainly the mighty queen in a globalised world-order, but Hindi is the local feudal lord that subdues a plethora of mother tongues.

Standardised Hindi, as it is taught in school and in which students are expected to speak and write, is the language that is learnt to sound respectable, educated and urban. In India’s hierarchical society, language dictates one’s place in the pecking order. Languages also arrange themselves on a ladder, depending on the status of...

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