The politics of minority languages: Some reflections on the Maithili language movement

Abstract

Post-Independence India has witnessed varied mass mobilisations over the issue of language. Such mobilisations have taken place at three levels: (1) the national where the question of Hindi versus English has exercised great many minds and led to intense conflicts; (2) the regional where the 'vernacular' languages were projected and then made the basis of politico-administrative organisation of Indian states and, (3) the intrastate, which happens to be the provenance of minority languages and where attempts are being made by the speech communities concerned to get legal-constitutional recognition for their languages. Against this backdrop, the present paper examines the chequered career of the Maithili Language Movement as an instance of the politics of minority languages, and attempts to explain its waxing and waning. Overall, it offers a critical assessment of the movement in order to underline its future potentialities and constraints.