The Census amid Language Politics: The Production of Language Data and the Politics of Mother Tongue in the Census of India, Punjab, 1941–71

Abstract

Censuses serve as a reliable basis for policy formulation. However, a census’ objectivity is challenged by its own mission of creating categories to make sense of the reality it is called to document. Simply put, a census is intrinsically political because it makes choices about what to show and how. This paper analyses the Census of Punjab for the years 1941, 1951, 1961 and 1971 to locate the concepts and practices the census used to document language. It tests the proposition that, as a category-maker, the census was a player in the politics of the subjectivity it was engaged in documenting—language politics. It finds that the census adapted its modus operandi to the circumstances, altering the definition of mother tongue and tabulation of mother tongue data in ways that supported or countered specific stakes involved in the politicisation of linguistic identity. The paper highlights that in Punjab, the census had a more actively political role in addition to the well-documented one of a tool mobilised by other actors.