In
1920, the Congress first endorsed the idea of linguistic states. The first linguistic
states to be formed were Orissa and Sindh in 1936. After Independence when the
demand for a separate Telugu State was voiced, in 1948 the Linguistic Provinces
Commission was appointed. The Committee, in paragraph 125 of its Report said “Linguistic
homogeneity in the formation of new provinces, is certainly attainable within
certain limits, but only at the cost of creating a fresh minority problem. And
nowhere will it be possible to form a linguistic province of more than 70 to 80
percent of the people speaking the same language, than leaving in each province
a minority of at least 20% of people speaking other languages”. This aspect of
the Commission’s views was not sufficiently deliberated. The various language
movements taking place now are result of such negligence.
Andhra was carved out in October 1953. Mounting pressure for creation of other
States resulted in the formation of the States Re-organisation Commission in December
1953, which submitted its report in October 1955. This Report was neither binding
nor ever fully implemented. But its impact was felt in the Seventh Amendment of
the Indian Constitution, where language was a major consideration if not the sole
consideration in re-ordering the political boundaries of states.
The establishment of the Naga Hills-Tuensang area in 1957 was departure from the
linguistic principles and a concession to the ethnic movement. This area achieved
statehood in 1963 and was known as Nagaland. The partitioning of Bombay into Maharashtra
and Gujarat was the second landmark. It was natural that the Government acceded
to Punjabi Suba. The partition of Punjab in 1966 and creation of Himachal Pradesh
was a natural sequel to this. Most political changes after this have taken place
in the North-East. Meghalaya was instituted in 1970 and attained full status in
1972. At the same time Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were
instituted and Manipur and Tripura, Union Territories since 1956 became States.
Sikkim became an Indian state in 1975.
It is true that besides linguistic factors, factors like ethnic and religious
composition, geographical factors including distance from the capital and economic
and social backwardness of regions played a part in carving out States. Whatever
may have been the consideration, the fact remains that according to one estimate
by the 1971 Census there were 96 million persons who are linguistic minorities
which leaves scope for further political re-organisation. This estimate is most
conservative. It is important to know that areas and groups taken for granted
as one because of a single language label obtained through Census are not communicationally
homogeneous. If this is taken into consideration, then on the basis of the emerging
patterns one could call the whole country a country of minorities, Bengali and
Telugu constituting the largest minorities are about 8% each of the total population
of the country. In this context linguistic rights of peoples are bound to play
a significant role in the debate on development and on preservation of culture.
The founding fathers of the Indian Constitution did anticipate some of these problems
and tried to incorporate provisions relating to language use. A compilation of
these and a look at the totality of provisions is expected not only to highlight
the underlying assumptions, but also to bring out their inadequacies and act as
a pointer towards further possibilities of change.