Man is a social animal and realises the best in him in and through society. There are various ties which bind to his fellowmen. Of these, race, region and language are the most important. Language lends homogeneity to a group and promotes amity and friendship among the people of a particular area. It offers great opportunities to the local genius for intellectual and cultural efflorescence.
The uniformity of language and region fosters unity in the people and engenders noble feelings of fraternity. There cannot be any affinity in a region where people speak different dialects, have different customs and modes of living and share nothing common with each other. There is often clash of opinion and disunity.
The importance of language was duly recognised by the Government of India after Independence and, as a result, the States were reorganised on a moral rational basis on the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission.
The love of language and region deserves every encouragement, for it welds the people of the region into a well-knit unit. A country consists of various regions and if each region becomes strong through linguistic and regional patriotism, there is every justification for encouraging it because in the strength of the various regions lies the strength of the whole country.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Linguistic and regional patriotism has mischievous potentialities- It may lead the people to think in parochial terms and thus jeoparadise the unity of the country. It may develop regional jealousy and make the country weak and disunited.
A house divided in itself is sure to go to ruin. India suffered terribly at the hands of foreign invaders in the past not because her people were physically and intellectually weak but because they lacked unity. They had a narrow outlook and thought in regional terms. They never fought against their enemies as a nation and were, therefore, subjugated.
Moreover, science has brought the nations of the world closer and the modern man needs to develop a cosmopolitan outlook. Linguistic and regional patriotism is an anachronism in the present-day world which has suffered terribly because of narrow national outlook and needs a philosophy which stresses the love of man rather than the love of race region or language.
The teachings of the Buddha, Jesus Christ and Gandhiji emphasizing the love of humanity, irrespective of caste, creed, region, etc., have assumed new meaning today when the nations of the world have to make the choice between co-existence and co-destruction. Linguistic and regional patriotism must be replaced by a catholicity of out-look and breadth of vision which embraces the whole of humanity.