Is Language Politics bound to India alone?

As far as I know, that is not the truth. Language politics has been there for ages and in every part of the world. When somebody talks about protecting his language in India, he is said to barbaric. However, the Indian media forgets that Identity Politics has plagued Europe since centuries, moreover so in the past few centuries.

One of the best examples of language politics, is that of Belgium. First we will have to have a look at the history of Belgium to understand the situation there. Before independence, Belgium was a part of Netherlands. The present day Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg were part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The northern part (Netherlands) of the Kingdom was mostly Protestant and the southern part (Belgium) was predominantly Catholic.

Due to the religious differences, a revolution broke out in the southern provinces of the Kingdom in 1830. Thus, Belgium gained its independence on the basis of religion. The people did not want themselves to be ruled by a protestant monarch in the north. However, language was also a part of the cause of the revolution. The Protestant majority spoke Dutch and the Catholic minority spoke French. (The dialect of Dutch in Belgium is called as Flemish and that of French is called as Walloon)

After independence, the ruling class of Belgium was primarily French speaking. Even the elite were French. The Belgian masses identified themselves more and more with France and French (The reason being the Catholic religion of France) than with their Protestant neighbor in the north. The hatred towards Netherlands was so much that a movement was started to Frenchify Belgium (Though there were significant numbers of Dutch speaking Catholics) . The use of the Dutch language was discouraged because it was the language of Protestant Netherlands (and supposedly of the protestants in the north) and the use of French was encouraged as it was the language of Catholic France. Dutch was not taught in schools and was not used for any official purpose whatsoever.

Now, the situation in Belgium is evolving from bad to worst. Suddenly, after 130 years of Belgian independence, in 1960, the number of Dutch speaking Belgians surpassed that of French speakers. That was the time when the Dutch speakers of Belgium took to the streets to demand equal rights and protection of their language (Till this time, Dutch was invisible in Belgium, except in the houses of Dutch Catholics). Due to the protests of the Dutch speaker, the government was forced to give in to their demands. New language border was drawn in Belgium and the country was divided on linguistic lines. The Dutch speaking region in the north became the Flemish (Dutch) Region and the French speaking region in the south became the Walloon Region (It also includes the German speaking territory of Eupen). The capital city of Brussels was declared a Bilingual Region.

Now, since the Dutch speakers are greater in number and their political and economic power is greater than that of the French speakers, the government has revised the political structure of the country. The country now has a Federal government. Though the Flemish region has a higher number of inhabitants (60%-40%), its representation in the Belgian Parliament is equal to that of the Walloon region. Both regions have 50-50% of seats in the Parliament. This is injustice, as this system make a French vote more important than that of a Flemish. This challenges the democratic principal of the will of the majority.

Though the Dutch and French speaker are Catholic by religion, they are bitterly at war with each other. The Dutch speaker are demanding independence for their region. The fight for Flemish (Dutch) Independence is now at its zenith. Parties like the Vlaams Belang and N-VA are one of the staunch supporters of Flemish Independence. Belgium is also called as the Battle Ground of Europe. Due to the political differences between the Flemish and Walloon parties, it is becoming more and more difficult to form a stable government in Belgium. Last time it took 196 days to form a government.

This shows us that though the Belgian nation was formed on the basis of religion, it could not sustain itself so. Language is an integral part of one's identity and it cannot be denied. Though Belgium is an overwhelmingly Catholic nation, the use of language as a means of identification is having its repercussions on the political and cultural landscape of the nation. Language is in fact a very important part of one's cultural identity.

According to me, following one's religion is a matter of choice but this is not the case with one's language. As soon as one is born, his parents and everyone around him communicates with him in his mother tongue (Most likely scenario). When the child starts speaking, he speaks in his mother tongue. He only follow his religion when he actually performs his religious obligations. However, in the case of language, he just speaks it. That is why I feel that language is something more important than religion. We have also seen it in the case of Belgium and East Pakistan (Bangladesh). (I will shed light on the issue of Bangladesh as soon as I can)