The government of Kerala’s decision to introduce the Malayalam language bill in the assembly session starting November 30 have evoked a mixed response from residents of the state. The bill will seek to enforce a comprehensive law that will ensure Malayalam become the sole official language of the state.
This means that Malayalam will be used for all official purposes and communication. All proceedings in the courts will be conducted in the local language. Schools, however, will be exempt from this as of now, since there is a large demand for English medium education that cannot be ignored. As of now, the official languages of Kerala are Malayalam and English as per the Official Languages Act. Malayalam received Classical Language status in 2013, which promoted the move to make the language all-encompassing.
But there are few issues that could affect this bill. Kannada and Tulu are spoken in a few talukas in Kerala. Asking them to change and now communicate in Malayalam will only alienate them and also lead to profiling and language fanaticism. Secondly, with more students learning English from the kindergarten section onwards, asking them to later only communicate in Malayalam for official purposes will only serve to confuse a generation. There is also the matter of non-Keralite residents and those moving to the state for employment. It will lead to an extremely insular society.
The ideals are in the right place. There is always a need to preserve local language and culture. But there are better ways to do it.
