[Editor’s Note: This is First in 3 part series based on a chapter ‘Communal agenda and Hindi press in a globalizing India’ by Dr Arvind Das in a forthcoming book Religion, Politics and Media: German and Indian Perspectives, Edited by: Detlef Briesen, Sigrid Baringhorst & Arvind Das, published by Palm Leaf Publications, New Delhi]
Dr Arvind Das,
Hindi press started its journey in May 1826 with the publication of a weekly called ‘Oodunta Martand’. In June 1854, the first Hindi daily, Samachar Sudhavarshan was published. Both publications were from Calcutta. In the North-Western provinces (modern day Uttar Pradesh), the first Hindi newspaper published was Banaras Akhbar (Banaras News) in 1845, under the guidance of Raja Shivprasad. Although these few journals and newspapers were first published in the period of 1826-60, Hindi press really gained momentum only after 1860.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was no watertight compartment between literary and political journals published in Hindi. However, while Kavi Vachan Sudha (1868), Harish Chandra Chandrika (1874, launched by Bhartendu Harsihchandra from Banaras), Bharat Mitra (1878), Sar Sudha Nidhi (1879), Uchit Wakta (1880), and Hindi Pradeep (1877), launched by Pandit Balakrishan Bhatt, voiced literary and social concerns, Arya Darpan, Bharat Varsha, Brahaman, Hidusthan and Hidusthani were more political in their content and tone (Mishra 2004). Dr. Ramratan Bhatnagar, who has researched on the growth and rise of early Hindi journalism, has argued: “…the Hindi press was dominated by one primary motive-the propagation of some definite notion about religion, social reform, or the language to be adopted universally by the people of Hindi Pradesh”(Bhatnagar 2003: Xiii).
While the 19th century renaissance (in Hindi ‘Navjagran’) of Bengal and Maharashtra mainly focused on socio-religious reforms, renaissance in the North Western provinces had a distinct character. Veer Bharat Talwar (2002) in his research on the renaissance of 19th century North Western Provinces has noted that the main goal of the leaders of the movement was to establish the supremacy of Hindi/Nagari over Urdu rather than fight for socio-religious reforms. He has suggested, by studying Hindi writings in the 19th century, that it should be called ‘Hindi movement’instead of ‘Hindi Navjagran (Hindi renaissance)’. He writes, “The writers of Hindi renaissance had converted the constitutional question of political democracy into a religious communal question…By the end of 19th century Hindi and Hindu word had become synonymous” (Talwar 2002: 327). In this period the Hindu and the Musilm elites of the North West provinces vociferously contested the idea of syncretic culture and charted their separate path based on their perceived self-identities. The Hindi press of Banaras, the fulcrum of Hindi movement, immensely helped in politicization of the Hindu religion, and Hindi writings were used as a tool to establish the Hindu identity. In the Journals edited by Bhartendu Harsihchandra, “politicization of Hinduness found vigorous expression” (Dalmia 2005). In June 1880, Bal Krishna Bhat, another prominent writer of Bhatendu Harishchandra group, wrote in Hindi Pradeep: “Afsos ki hum Hindu kehlate hain, aur Hindi ko nahi chahte, toh mujhe aise logon ke Hindu hone mein kuch daal mein kala jaan padta hai” (It is sad that we are known as Hindu but don’t love Hindi. I believe there is something seriously wrong in their Hinduness) (Talwar 2002: 327). The editorials and essays of many journals like Sar Sudha Nidhi and Bharat Jeevan openly espoused the communal hatred based on Hindi’s ‘purity’ and Urdu’s ‘foreignness’ and ‘pollution’ (See Sohan Prasad Murdis’ book, Hindu Aur Urdu ki Ladai, 1884).
Similarly, in the first two decades of 20th century, Hindi Press mainly propagated nationalistic, linguistic and religious discourse. Periodicals like Abhyuday (1907), edited by Madan Mohan Malviya, Pratap (1913), edited by Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, and Aaj (1920) , edited by Baburao Vishnu Paradkar, were prominent among them. In particular, Aaj, published from Kanpur, UP, became a popular newspaper and expanded its reach to common public and thus widened the Hindi public sphere (Orsini 2009). It should be noted here that the Hindi press played an equally important role during the Indian freedom movement fighting against colonial powers.
Most of the journalists of pre-independence era, who were freedom fighters themselves, followed nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi’s dictum: journalism should be a means to serve the country. Mahatma Gandhi, a journalist par excellence, believed, “Journalism to be useful and serviceable to the country will take its definite place only when it becomes unselfish and when it devotes its best for the service of the country, and whatever happens to the editors or to the journal itself, editors would express the views of the country irrespective of consequences.” (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 26: 370-371). He advocated and propagated use of Hindustani, a mix of Hindi and Urdu, to fight against the colonial power and unite the masses. In this period, Hindi journalism was perceived to be not merely a profession, but a mission.
Moreover, with the rise of Indian National Congress (1885), All India Muslim League (1906) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS, 1925) the sound of ‘Hindi, Hindu and Hindusthan’, a slogan given by the leading Hindi writer of ‘Bhartendu group’, Pratap Narayan Mishra (1856-1884), reverberated in the Hindi public sphere. The founder of RSS, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, was an admirer of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar from whom the organization got its ideological inspiration and strength.
Savarkar coined the term Hindutva (Hinduness) in his book Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? (1923). He emphasized on ‘Hindu, Hindusthan and Hindi’ and underlined that the Hindu culture and religion only and truly represented the Indian national identity. Christhophe Jaffrelot writes, “In Savarkar’s views the religious minorities are requested to pay allegiance to this dominant identity and to hold back the manifestations of their faith within private sphere” (2007: 1). Savarkar was actively involved with the Hindu Mahasabha since its inception in 1915 and took over as its president in 1937. Hindu Mahasabha (Hindu Assembly) was established to protect the interests of Hindu and counter the Musilm League.
Hindi language press in North India grew in this political milieu and mirrored the communal biases of the leading nationalist leaders and political parties. Krishna Kumar notes, “In northern India, revivalist efforts succeeded in projecting Hindi as the symbol of a liberated self-identity. The Hindi movement became a major resource for the creation of a community purged of ‘foreign’ influences. The manner in which collective self-identity came to be defined in the Hindi belt from the 1920s onwards was a new and uniquely northern development. Language and education became the means to evolve a Hindu identity in which the rejection of English was but one layer sitting above a painstakingly assembled mass of anti-Muslim consciousness.” (2006:19). In the pre-independence era, a large part of Hindi and Urdu language press was appropriated by nationalist leaders. Even after independence was gained in 1947, for a long time, Hindi press failed to create a liberal public sphere where rational-critical discourse could be possible. It was only in the late 20th century that Hindi press got an identity of its own and reinvented its public sphere (Jeffrey 2001; Ninan 2007; Das 2013).
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Dr Arvind Das is a Delhi based Journalist and Media Researcher and is also the author of a well researched book ‘Hindi mein Samachar’ (News in Hindi). He can be reached at [email protected]