Forcing languages on people has a bad track record in the region

If only our high school text books did not stop History somewhere around 1950, generations of Indians might become aware of the mistakes made by our neighbours and stop insisting on repeating them in India. The subcontinent’s history of strife stirred by linguistic chauvinism should strike a cautionary note. Pluralism is the magic formula that others missed. We would do well to heed the warning that the history of our neighbourhood offers us: Don’t mess with language.