Nehru and the Language Politics of India by Robert D. King

His English Language Amendment died in the Ninety-seventh Congress. Senate a constitutional amendment that not only would have made English the official language but would have prohibited federal and state laws and regulations requiring the use of other languages. Hayakawa, long a leading critic of bilingual education and bilingual ballots, introduced in the U.S. It was against this background that the movement to make English the official language of the country arose. These events suggest how divisive a public issue language could become in America - even if it has until now scarcely been taken seriously. The appeal to the Supreme Court followed a 6-to-5 ruling, in October of 1995, by a federal appeals court striking down the Arizona law. Arizona is one of several states that have passed 'Official English' or 'English Only' laws. On March 25 of last year the Supreme Court agreed to review a case involving an Arizona law that would require public employees to conduct government business only in English. The debate was intense, acrid, and partisan. The vote was 259 to 169, with 223 Republicans and thirty-six Democrats voting in favor and eight Republicans, 160 Democrats, and one independent voting against. House of Representatives approved a bill that would make English the official language of the United States. The very idea of language as a political force - as something that might threaten to split a country wide apart - is alien to our way of thinking and to our cultural traditions.

WE have known race riots, draft riots, labor violence, secession, anti-war protests, and a whiskey rebellion, but one kind of trouble we've never had: a language riot.

Nehru and the Language Politics of India by Robert D. King