Four reasons why Hindi continues to struggle

Ghazala Wahab's new book highlights Hindi's battle with aspirations, dialects, and its own fractured identity

- RASHEED KIDWAI

Is Hindi still struggling for the kind of acceptance that was originally envisioned for it? What, then, are the systemic barriers that Hindi has to contend with? Hindi's crisis of identity, its lack of readership, limited employability for Hindi speakers, and the gaps in social aspiration, points award-winning author Ghazala Wahab in her book The Hindi Heartland: A Study [Aleph]

In June 2025, while speaking at a book launch in Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah ignited the language debate once again when he remarked, "Those who speak English in this country will soon feel ashamed... Without our languages, we cease to be truly Indian." While Shah did not explicitly mention Hindi, his words have drawn criticism in light of what has long been perceived to be the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) push to eventually replace English with Hindi as India's link language.

What is the likelihood of this actually happening?

In a section in her latest book, journalist-author Ghazala Wahab writes about the early challenges of nation-building, linguistic and otherwise, in independent India. She asserts that Hindi "continues to struggle" for the kind of acceptance that was originally envisioned for it.

Ghazala is executive editor, FORCE, where she writes on homeland security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, left-wing extremism, and religious extremism. She is the author of "Born A Muslim," and "Dragon on Our Doorstep: Managing China through Military Power," co-authored with Pravin Sawhney.

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