India is a home to numerous ancient and linguistically rich languages across its many regions. In a single home, a young person may speak, for example, Odia (the language spoken in the eastern state of Odisha) with their grandparents, switch to English for homework, and enjoy listening to Hindi songs on YouTube.
Far from being confusing, this coexistence is necessary and natural. It’s a hallmark of a nation where language diversity is embraced as a strength rather than being a barrier to be overcome.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, reflected this attitude in February this year when he remarked that there had “never been any animosity among Indian languages”. He was speaking at a major literary conference in the state of Maharashtra, where the vast majority of people, 84 million out of a population of 112 million, speak Marathi as a first language with Hindi a distant second.
