A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

ecame the language of government affairs.
But I find one thing very interesting about
this agitation. If you were to sit down
with the list of those young leaders who
were part of this agitation, you would
find that many of those young leaders
belong to the higher echelons of Indian
politics today. There are various Chief
Ministers and many Cabinet Ministers now
who are products of that agitation. The
most unique thing about them is that they
all sent their children to English medium
schools. They retained the dual education
policy. The result was that those who were
affluent sent their children to English
medium schools and only those people
sent their children to the Hindi medium
who had no other option. Since the last
few years, all government schools are in
a mess, and in the villages, the mohallas
and in the cities there seems to be a
deluge of English medium schools.
On a very recent trip to Pakistan,
I tried to seek information as to what
was the situation there with regard to
this scenario. I was quite amused to know
that the elite in Pakistan have duly emulated
their Indian counterparts. Those who
declare Urdu to be synonymous with
Pakistan and Islam have sent their children
to English medium schools. Amongst these
are political leaders and army officers,
the rigid Islamic Mullahs are also one
of them, who, while they send the children
of the poor to the Madarsas, educate their
own children in English – the language
of the devil, and when given an appropriate
opportunity send them to the United States
or to the UK- the land of the devil!
Vibhuti Narain Rai : born 1950, is a prominent progressive author
whose books have made a mark in Hindi literature for their clear
thinking, modern analysis, social understanding and human concern.
His novels are : Ghar; Shahar mein Curfew; Kissa Loktantra; Tabadla
and Prem ki bhootkatha. He has been honoured with Indu Sharma
antarrashtriya Katha Samman, Kamleshwar Smriti Samman and Uttar
Pradesh Hindi Sansthan Puraskar. He has been a senior I.P.S. officer.
Currently he is Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya
Hindi Vishwavidyalay, Wardha.
Meenakshi Pawha, Reader in English in Lucknow University, is a
gold medalist and awardee of Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship
to Cambridge University. She has been a fullbright scholar. Her areas
of interest are 20th century Indian, American, Australian and British
drama, post colonial studies and film studies. She lives in Lucknow.
66 :: January-March 2012