Goa, Sept. 14 -- Hindi Diwas is observed every year on September 14 to mark a crucial moment in India's constitutional history, when the Constituent Assembly adopted a compromise on the language question in 1949.

The issue of language was among the most contentious subjects debated by the Constituent Assembly as independent India worked on framing its Constitution. Members held sharply different views on whether Hindi, Hindustani or English should have a central role in the country's official functioning.

The intensity of the debate was visible during one of the Assembly's early sessions when RV Dhulekar, a Congress leader from the United Provinces, strongly argued that Hindustani should be used in the proceedings of constitution-making...