A week for Diwali, weak on diversity

The assiduousness with which right-wingers fan the embers of religious differences in our country would put street-side bhutta-wallas to shame. Like, they literally never give it a rest—not even during the holiday season. In fact, especially during the holiday season.

- ANUJA CHAUHAN

I woke up the morning after Diwali to find 1) Francesca Orsini, a renowned scholar of Hindi, has been stopped from entering the country despite a valid visa. 2)

An 'organic groundswell' has arisen across the nation, asking for Diwali to be declared a week-long celebration and public holiday.

Orsini's work, The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism, examines the constructed separation of Hindi and Urdu.

Her research demonstrates that during the colonial period, the British linguists, ever faithful to their policy of divide and rule, deliberately pried apart two closely mingled languages, associating Hindi with Hindus, and Urdu with Muslims. She further points out that in Awadh's historically multilingual literary culture, Persian, Awadhi and Braj flourished alongside Hindi and Urdu in cheerful coexistence. This directly contradicts the hindutva brigade's narrative of a monolithic, pure, Hindi-speaking Hindu identity.