At the heart of language conflicts is a key question: should language policies be dictated from above, or should they evolve through organic demand? The right approach is to encourage a ‘language free market‘ – where supply and demand dictate linguistic prominence, allowing governments to incentivise learning but not impose it. Consider China’s model, where Mandarin has been standardised and enforced across all regions, often at the expense of linguistic diversity.
India has historically resisted centralised linguistic prescriptions. English thrives not due to imposition but because it offers economic and social mobility. Similarly, regional languages flourish where cultural pride and local utility drive their use. Chandrababu Naidu makes a compelling point when he says Andhra Pradesh will promote not three but 8-10 languages so that ‘youth can equip themselves to go and work in different countries’. Like markets, languages function best when they are nudged, not coerced – flourishing in response to need, not diktat.
