ASSESSMENTS

India's South Seeks a Common Defense on Language

Jul 15, 2017 | 13:46 GMT

A sign displays the name of a New Delhi market in Hindi and English. A backlash has been building in India's non-Hindi-speaking south against the central government's efforts to promote Hindi as the national language.

(Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

When India gained its independence in 1947, few subjects exposed the young country's fault lines as clearly as language did. The northern parts of India tried to impose Hindi, one of dozens of languages spoken in the country, on the linguistically diverse south, triggering unrest and extended periods of violence that eventually caused the central government in New Delhi to backtrack. But over the past six months, signs have emerged that the government is making another attempt to expand the use of Hindi. And resistance is building anew in the south....

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