In the light of the ongoing prioritisation of Hindi by the central government, the projection of Hindi as the “self” is problematic for several reasons. Three “self–other” binaries are discussed in this regard: Hindi–Hindu as “self,” Urdu–Muslim as “other”; Sanskrit-laden Hindi favouring upper caste Hindus as “self,” vernacular Hindi dialects often represented by the lower castes and classes as “other”; and fi nally Hindi as the epitome of “desi self,” English as “foreign other.”
