By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: A week ago, Samjwadi Party Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav tried to fan the debate over ‘national’ language, by saying that the people’s representatives should speak only in Hindi in the Parliament, that English – a foreign language – should be banned. However, the SP patriarch does not seem to apply what he preaches, himself.
The website of the Samajwadi Party is in English only, except photographs of the party boss, where captions are printed in Hindi. In fact the theme of site, “MAN SE HAI MULAYAM” too is written in Roman fonts. Only the theme song and clippings of posters, ads on the website are in Hindi.
“There should be a ban on English address in Parliament. Countries which use their mother tongue are more developed. It’s the need of the hour to promote Hindi,” Mr Yadav said in a function in Etawah in Uttar Pradesh on November 16.
Although Hindi is generally believed to be the ‘national’ language, there is no law that guarantees it that status.
Interestingly on the SP website, briefs on Ideology to History to party ideologues, everything is in English.
Websites of most political parties, including BJP, CPIM, BSP, JDU are all in English. The official website of the All India Congress (AICC) is in English, Hindi and Urdu, with language conversions just a click away. Although the website of the BJP is in English, it has several sister sites that are in Hindi or other languages.
This is not the first time that Mulayam, like several other leaders, has expressed his discomfort over the use of English for official purposes. This, however, did not deter him, from sending his son – present UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav – to study MBA in Australia.
In fact, according to a media report, when Akhilesh was first brought in as an MP, his “proud father,” introduced him to Jaipal Reddy, saying: “Aapke jaisa hi English bolta hai, angrezi school mein padha likha hai. Ashirvad dijiye (He speaks English like you, has studied in the English medium school. Give him blessings!).”
Akhilesh’s ‘modern’ outlook and savvy image, in many ways, helped in overcoming the SP’s earlier image as an anti-English, anti-computer party. Current SP government is in fact distributing laptops and tabs to students.