The Tongue the Nation Could Not Choose

In September 1949, after debates that ran across several days, the Constituent Assembly of India settled a question that had divided it for three years. It adopted a compromise that made Hindi in the Devanagari script the official language of the Union, while allowing English to continue for fifteen years. The compromise is associated with the names of K. M. Munshi and N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar. The Constitution that resulted never uses the phrase national language. It names an official language, a list of scheduled languages and a promise of review, and that arrangement of three parts has shaped the country's politics ever since.

The fifteen years ran out in 1965, and the approaching deadline became an occasion of unrest. In that year protests against the prospect of Hindi as the sole official language spread across Madras State, with student agitations, deaths in police firing and self immolations that have been widely reported. The Union government responded with assurances, and Parliament amended the Official Languages Act in 1967 so that English could continue until every state that had not adopted Hindi as its official language agreed to its end. The practical effect was that English became a permanent associate of the Union and no longer a temporary guest.