Nepal's newly elected Vice President Paramananda Jha took his oath of office in Hindi -- a language spoken in the northern part of neighboring India. The country then erupted in protests against Jha. The vice president was accused of humiliating Nepal and being an anti-national. After his apology to the public, groups organizing the protest canceled their programs, but the debate over Hindi is far from over in Nepal.
Nepali is Nepal's main language but the country is not linguistically homogenous, far from it. Newari, Maithali, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Tibetan, Tamang, Lama and many more languages and their distinctive dialects are spoken in Nepal and are recognized by the constitution as the "nation's languages." Hindi, however, is not.
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| Jha could have taken the oath in his mother tongue Maithali or in any of the recognized languages but he chose Hindi, legally a foreign language in Nepal. Before speculating why he decided to ignore the constitution, let us look at Hindi's position in Nepal.
As a result of Nepal's cultural, religious and geographic proximity with India's Hindi speaking area, over the years the country has been greatly influenced by the Hindi-language media, music and entertainment industries. Bollywood (Hindi movie industry) is a big crowd puller in Nepal; in fact, in urban areas more people prefer Hindi movies to Nepali ones. Hindi soap operas are hugely popular in the country and so is the music.
In Nepal's Terai region, where Jha hails from, Hindi is used as a bridge between those who speak Maithali, Bhojpuri or Awadhi. Knowledge of the language helps Terai residents to do business with their Indian neighbors in the nearby states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It is a common language of the region, similar to how English is being used nowadays around the world.
It is understandable that Jha, in using Hindi to take oath of Nepal, hurt feelings in the country. After all, he holds the second highest office in the land and the people expect him to respect Nepali, the country's main language. But is the scale of negative reaction justifiable?
Hindi has its own unique position in Nepal, especially in Terai, as noted above. Maybe it is time to recognize Hindi's position in Nepal and not take the language as a threat to national sovereignty and integrity. I am not advocating forgetting Nepali or our "nation's languages" in favor of Hindi, but it is time that we at least acknowledge that Hindi is used in Nepal, whether the puritans like it or not.
The other side of this "Hindi gate" is the fact that for decades Nepal was "ruled" on a whim, without proper regulations. The country still has laws that seem incompatible with the 21st century world we live in. For example, a mother who is a citizen of Nepal cannot sponsor's her child's citizenship petition, only a father who is a citizen of Nepal can, laws to curb human trafficking are so lax perpetrators regularly get away with their crimes, victims of sexual violence, especially children, are treated as the culprits rather than the victims. In fact, there are about 117 discriminatory provisions in Nepal's legal system, including in the constitution.
The result of this "anything goes" style is that the country and its social fabric is badly damaged and lacks structure. Nepal needs to formulate laws and regulations. In fact, there is no law saying that the oath of office should be taken in Nepali or one of the "nation's languages," there is a legal black hole concerning this issue.
In light of "Hindi gate" maybe Nepal should start with a language regulation that states that the oath of office can be taken only in Nepali or any of the "nation's languages," and make the use of foreign languages punishable. If the public feels so strongly about it -- why not? That way the pundits scaring people against their fellow citizens from Terai would finally be out of a job (thankfully) and people can get back to debating real issues.
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