In India, language politics have a long history. According to The Economist, the number of languages spoken in India is 438. However, the constitution recognizes only 22 scheduled languages.

Controversy arose as Delhi University has recently made it compulsory for students to study one paper in Hindi or any Modern Indian Language listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution (Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam and Manipuri). Mandatory Hindi or any “Modern Indian language“ (MIL) would be difficult for the students who speak neither Hindi nor any of the modern Indian languages.

Islamabad based Indian journalist Rezaul Hasan Laskar ‏@Rezhasan says on Twitter:

@Rezhasan (Rezaul Hasan Laskar): @rakeshmani Still no reason for folks in North India to impose Hindi on a lot of us who don't speak the language. @MrSamratX

Students protest the imposition of Hindi and Modern Indian Languages, Image courtesy NEFIS Delhi Facebook Page

The North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) organized a protest of around 200 people against the imposition of Hindi/Modern Indian languages upon the students of the North-East. It was reported in the Manipur news and Sanhati:

No one from the administration came out to meet us despite our constant appeal to discuss the issue. We were manhandled by the security outside the office and sexist abuses were hurled at women students.

NEFIS Coordinator Chinglen Khumukcham told Business Standard that the University is ill-equipped to teach the MILs so Hindi would be the automatic choice:

There would be problems even for the communities that speak MILs like Manipuri, Assamese etc because the infrastructure and faculty strength for these languages is too small to be able to cover the whole of university.

The Asian Centre for Human Rights has reportedly filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the introduction of Hindi as a mandatory subject in Delhi University.

The NEFIS has submitted a memorandum to the vice chancellor of DU saying the imposition of Hindi or MILs upon the students of the North-East is unfair as most of these languages are alien to them. Protests on the issue have been held on March 22 and March 25. Khumukcham also said:

This gross neglect of the special needs of the students of the North-East is not a new thing. It is our observation that in the framing of university polices the interests of the students from the North-East is always neglected. It is for this reason that we made this fresh instance of bias an occasion for us to rise above community lines and put forward a united protest to safeguard our common interests.

North Eastern States Of India. Image courtesy NEFIS Delhi Facebook page

A Tamil blog commented:

Its Good to see youth from North-East actively voicing against Hindi imposition… Hopefully youth from various linguistic groups could start networking with each other, towards our common goal of bringing constitutional amendment that no single language is sole official language of union, all 8th Schedule Languages are official language of union and the lethargy of updating 8th schedule list must be condemned and be updated regularly.

Students are now gearing up for additional protests on the 10 of April, according to Time for Change India and the Facebook Page Stop Discriminating People From the North-East India.