NEW DELHI, March 3 -- India's linguistic scenery is as vibrant and complex as its cultural history. With over 120 major languages and thousands of dialects, the country's diversity is both a source of pride and a battleground for political and cultural identity.

At the heart of this struggle lies a decades-old debate: Should India prioritise a three-language policy-promoting Hindi, English, and regional languages-or embrace a two-language approach that sidelines Hindi in favour of regional tongues and English? This question has resurfaced with renewed intensity in recent years and months, fuelled by educational reforms, protests, and the ever-present tension between national unity and regional pride and identity.

The roots of this confl...