Hindi footprint
The total population in the Hindi-speaking states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkand, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi increased by a measure of 21% between 2001 and 2011. In the same period, the population reporting its mother tongue as Hindi in the major migrant destination states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat, increased by 45%. To be sure, the absolute share of Hindi speakers in these states is still very low compared to that of native language speakers. (See Chart 2)
It needs to be underlined that a Tamil or a Gujarati person, who has picked up Hindi as a second or third language, will not show up in the data on persons with Hindi as their mother tongue. Therefore, this statistic is a good indicator of persons from Hindi-speaking states moving to non-hindi states.
In addition to the larger nationwide narrative, there are changes in linguistic composition observed within states that help understand flashpoints around identities regionally. If we consider the case of Gujarat, in 21 of 26 districts (count in 2001), the percentage of people reporting Hindi as their mother tongue increased between 2001 and 2011; 23% of Surat’s population reported Hindi as their mother tongue in 2011, a nearly 10 percentage point increase from 2001. (See Chart 3)
Migration flows within India are inevitable, and are a result of the demographic divergence between the poorer, more populous Northern states and the more prosperous Southern and Western Indian states. However, the social and cultural implications of this trend are uncertain. For instance, are the recent clashes in Gujarat a specific and isolated event, or are they indicative of more turbulent times ahead?
A TAMIL OR A GUJARATI PERSON, WHO HAS PICKED UP HINDI AS A SECOND OR THIRD LANGUAGE, WILL NOT SHOW UP IN THE DATA ON PERSONS WITH HINDI AS THEIR MOTHER TONGUE
hospital. It was after the accused fled from the spot and realising that victims were alive, three men came forward and took them to a hospital 1.5 kilometres away in an autorickshaw. The accused easily drove away from the spot in front of hundreds of people, but no one came forward to get hold of him,” Kuhar said.
He said he informed the crime investigation units that followed the head constable on Sohna Road, but he went to a village, Islampur, and spent half-anhour there with a friend named Kuku. He told Kuku that the judge’s wife and son had met with an accident but within a few minutes confided that he shot them. Kuku told police that he thought they had been killed.
Around 5.30 pm, the PSO was arrested from Gwal Pahari on Gurugram-faridabad Road after two crime investigation teams intercepted the car.
PN Kakkar, chief executive officer of Park Hospital, where the victims were taken around 3.45 pm with a gunshot injury each, said: “The boy was shot in his head and was immediately put on ventilator. The woman was shot in the right side of the chest due to which blood collected in her lungs. The family wanted to shift them to another hospital so they were shifted from here at 5.26 pm.”
The woman is a homemaker and the boy a class 12 student of a prominent school. The judge was not available for comment. desh, Mizoram and Telangana.
Meanwhile, Mayawati accused the BJP of raking up the Ayodhya Ram temple issue for electoral gains and claimed that mob-lynching in the name of cow protection was happening in Bjp-ruled states. She also questioned why the BJP was not responding to repeated questions on the controversial Rafale jet fighter deal, but blamed both the Congress and the BJP for irregularities that have taken place in defence deals.
The BJP and the Bjp-led National Democratic Alliance government have denied any wrongdoing in the Rafale deal. The party has also disassociated itself from the mob lynchings, noting that action has been taken against suspects.