My recommendation for rewrite is "python with only stdlib". Using pip-installed libraries brings in the famous packaging problems, but you don't have to use it! Python's stdlib is fully "batteries included", and it has lots of useful things like ini file parser. And if your system has bash, it often has python as well, or at least it's easy to install. Things might get a bit more verbose, but they would be much more reliable and debuggable.
There is a initiative around bringing Indian languages into today's tech.
Named BHASHINI.
I initially thought the title was referring to that project given the similarity in name.
(Bhasha = Language)