The last time Hindi as national language debate was happening, it was 2020. I wrote a thread on Twitter (which I have since left) that went kind of viral then. I am reproducing it as a listicle below with some slight edits because you all are nice people who don't deserve the anger I had back then on account of being on a social network whose primary purpose seems to be to make people angry.

So this is for all you Hindi-as-national-language advocates. I am sure not all of you are deliberate deceivers. Some of you might simply be ignorant. So read on and maybe you'll get why people are opposed to the idea of Hindi officially being given national language status.

1. First, the universality myth. Hindi is not universally spoken all over India. That's a lie that some Hindi-speakers like to tell themselves because it feels nice to live under the illusion that you live in a linguistically united country. You don't. India is linguistically diverse and that's a good thing, not a problem to be solved by bulldozing everything apart from Hindi.

2. Second, the myth that Hindi is easier to pick up than English. It is not. Hindi has very little in common with languages in the South and North-East. If you think people unwilling to use it are being lazy, take some time and learn Tamil, Telugu, Axomiya and Odia. We will see how open-minded you are to Indian culture. According to a report in The Hindu, data shows that people in non-Hindi States are more willing to learn and speak new languages, while the same cannot be said for those in the Hindi belt. What is called Hindi imposition is often portrayed as a common sense measure meant only to make life easier for everyone. But in truth, it seems little more than an expression of laziness on some in the Hindi belt. They will have everyone speak their language but spend no effort on learning the languages that others speak.

3. Third, the myth of English as a foreign language. Facepalm! If English is foreign, then so is your computer, Twitter, the Internet, and maybe even your clothes. Abandoning or deprioritising things on the basis of where they came from is moronic. Consider utility, not emotion.

4. Fourth, if English is foreign, then so is Hindi... to those who don't speak Hindi. Why is this so difficult to understand? You can't employ the "foreign" logic selectively. If you can choose what is outsider and what is insider based on present-day national borders, others can do the same based on their state borders.

5. Fifth, NO, most of us don't hate Hindi. It's a wonderful language that we often use and consume entertainment in. Hindi might feel special to you if the language you speak at home is Hindi, but why would it feel that way to those whose native language is not Hindi? Think about it.

6. Sixth and last, this is a pointless pursuit. It changes nothing. It improves nothing. Even if implemented, it will do nothing. Connaught Place was renamed Rajiv Chowk ages ago. The only person who calls it Rajiv Chowk is the automated voice in Delhi Metro. Everyone else says CP.

You can't shove things down people's throats. And this applies to languages even more. If you want to promote a language, use it, create art in it, and make people want to use it. Don't do it by government order. That's juvenile. If the powers that want Hindi to be our national language actually cared about it, they would encourage Hindi promotion campaigns through the Hindi film industry, which is the single greatest reason Hindi has found widespread usage. It might, at the very least, be a better thing to do than using celebrities for political propaganda or framing them for possessing drugs.

I am personally a huge admirer of the fierceness with which Tamil is protected by many who speak it. As someone whose native language is Odia, I find the framing of Hindi as some kind of mainstream to be problematic. We are told people need to learn Hindi to access the mainstream. The assumption implicit is that anyone who isn't in this Hindi mainstream is an outsider. However, our mainstream is actually multilingual.

There may very well be islands of power within this mainstream, but none of them get to assert that they ARE the mainstream. And no one except Hindi-enthusiasts does this. Tamils don't feel the need to impose Tamil in north India. Bengalis don't insist thet everyone speak Bengali. Axomiya and Santali are not even in that race.

Writing in Frontline, Apoorvanand points out this kanjoosi among many in the Hindi belt. Emphasis mine.

People from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar are mostly monolingual if you leave aside their use of their home tongues like Awadhi or Bhojpuri. They do not feel the need to learn any other Indian language. English, again, is a compulsion they cannot avoid. We need to ask how is it that even decades of the use of the three-language formula has kept them impoverished lingually. Is there a desire in these lands to learn other Indian languages? Do you see any Tamil or Assamese teachers in a school in Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh?

I have lived in the south and I have lived in the north. I have found many in the south who not only spoke Hindi, but were also good at it. I have never met anyone in the north whose concern for the languages of the south extended beyond the desire to enjoy Hindi dubs of southern action movies. I think this emerges partly from the belief among many Hindi speakers that they are the cultural core of India and everyone else is outside it. This belief manifests as disdain for English of course, but also as the tendency to look down upon other Indian languages.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that being fluent in Hindi opens a lot of gates in the Hindi-speaking world, much as how being fluent in Tamil must open gates in Tamil Nadu. But being fluent in English opens gates everywhere and that is the power being sought by those who want everyone to speak Hindi. I don't think they should be surprised when people in the south don't give up this cultural power and fight to keep what they have built.