Politicians love language issues. Here’s my 2 cents , India is not a monolingual nation. It's a linguistic mosaic with around 22 scheduled languages (in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution) and over 19,500 dialects and mother tongues
Some languages like Tamil, Bengali, and Kannada have ancient literary traditions and cultural pride.
In such regions, language is not just a medium of communication—it's tied to regional identity, historical pride, and even resistance to perceived North Indian or Hindi dominance.
In 2025 we see that many political parties are using language as a weapon to mobilize votes. it also diverts people from real issues on governance and corruption, and these groups linked with political parties potray as defenders of culture. It is a low-cost, high-emotion tactic that allows political players to assert identity, challenge the Government in Centre BJP as of now , rally public sentiment, and distract from real governance. That doesn't mean the concerns are always fake—historical and cultural sensitivities are real.
But the way they’re timed, framed, and amplified often reflects strategic political interests, not just genuine linguistic advocacy. there has been many social media users who said that these politicians who vouch for regional language often educate their children in English. Also in India , Bureaucrats and businesspeople are comfortable with Hindi or English, the sufferer is again the poor vendor on the street working for his daily wage.
If we speak about the states where we see the flare up on language issues like, Tamil Nadu’s opposition to Hindi imposition isn’t new—it goes back to the anti-Hindi agitations of the 1960s. Karnataka sees periodic outbursts around Kannada pride, especially when Centre pushes Hindi or English dominance. West Bengal raises similar flags around Bangla identity, especially when feeling sidelined by national narratives.
Maharashtra is a critical example where the language issue has been turned into a political weapon, especially in the context of Hindi vs. Marathi.
Maharashtra has a strong linguistic and cultural identity built around , The legacy of Shivaji Maharaj and a rich literary tradition in Marathi. There is also a political assertion of the "Marathi Manoos" (Marathi person) in urban centres like Mumbai and Pune.
The slogan “Mee Marathi” has historically been used by Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) and later by MNS (Raj Thackeray) to claim political space.
Though politically estranged for years, both Uddhav’s Shiv Sena (now Sena UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s MNS have found common cause again in opposing the perceived dominance of Hindi and BJP’s centralising tendencies. I must say Hindi has united both of them.
The pattern is clear in all the states where we see a language war, language is used to manufacture "us vs. them" binaries — Marathi vs. Hindi, regional vs. North Indian, local culture vs. national imposition — especially when elections loom or alliances shift.
But this whole scenario will change with the evolution of Agentic AI, Companies like Google and Microsoft is already offering agents which can live translate the speech.Politicians will find it harder to create “us vs. them” language binaries when everyone understands everyone. This transformation will not take too much time.
If AI can speak perfect Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Tulu, and Sanskrit with your exact voice tone…
Language is no longer a limitation or identity marker — it’s just a style preference.
In that world, the “language is under threat” argument loses fuel.
But culture will still matter — and smart politicians may shift their strategy to "AI can't replace our sanskriti".
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