“This recent debate is not a question of teaching Hindi in schools,” says Akshya Saxena, a Vanderbilt University professor who studies Indian languages. Despite the linguistic diversity on the subcontinent, the predominant anti-colonial party, the Indian National Congress Party, proposed Hindi as a national language because it was the dominant tongue of the party’s leaders. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organization of Modi’s BJP, which opposed the Congress party, pushed for Hindi as a national language. Now, Jha says, the situation is a “hornet’s nest.”Saxena says the BJP mistakenly views the Hindi language as a monolith, but in reality, Hindi dialects bleed into one another. Tamil Nadu, where Modi’s party has never held power, has historically been at the forefront of the battle against Hindi.