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Amit Shah says Hindi a friend of all indigenous languages
Union home minister Amit Shah appeals to people to work for enriching heritage of Hindi and other local languages
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said Hindi is a friend of all indigenous languages and the country’s prosperity lies in the prosperity of all its languages.
He was addressing the Akhil Bharatiya Rajbhasha Sammelan in Varanasi. This is the first time that the convention is taking place outside New Delhi.
Shah appealed to the people to work for enriching the glorious heritage of country’s official language Hindi and other local languages.
He said, “This is a year for the Hindi lovers to take a pledge that by the time we complete 100 years of Independence, indigenous languages and Rajbhasha (the official language Hindi) should become so strong that we do not need to take the help of a foreign language.”
“Hindi is the friend (sakhee) of all indigenous languages (swabhasha). India’s prosperity lies in the prosperity of our Indian languages,” he said. He emphasised that there cannot be any ‘antarvirodh’ (differences) among friends.
The home minister also said a sense of inferiority complex was instilled in the minds of some children who couldn’t speak English.
Shah said it is his firm belief that the time is not far when those who cannot speak their mother tongue will have an inferiority complex.
Asserting that there is a need to rid youths of the inferiority complex instilled during British rule, he said once the people of the country decide and its languages become the language of the governance, India will automatically get back the knowledge trove of Maharishi Patanjali and Panini. He appealed to people to speak to their children in “swabhasha”.
“We need to create an environment wherein people take pride in speaking their mother tongue,” he said. The home minister also said efforts were made to create a lot of controversies around the Hindi language but that time is over now.
“There is no contradiction between Hindi and all our local languages. My mother tongue is Gujarati. I love Hindi as much as I love Gujarati, l love Hindi a bit more than Gujarati,” Shah said.
He also said the development of Indian languages is a central pillar of the National Education Policy and the syllabi of engineering and medical courses have been translated into eight Indian languages so far.
Research can be done best in one’s own language, he said, adding that the root cause of our country’s backwardness is that the subjects of our studies and research were not in our languages. But the change made by PM Modi will change the future of India in the coming days, he said. Democracy can be successful only when the language of administration is “swabhasha” (own language), he stated.
“Today, 100% work in the Ministry of Home Affairs is done in the official language (Hindi) and many departments are also moving in this direction,” he said.
Shah lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for promoting Hindi across the world.
“No Prime Minister has got so much of global accolades as much as Narendra Modi ji. He has put forth India’s point of view in the world in Rajbhasha (Hindi) and has enhanced the pride of the Rajbhasha,” he said.
The official language (Hindi) should have been promoted soon after independence, because Swaraj, Swadeshi and Swabhasha were three main pillars of the freedom struggle, but this was not done, he said.
“We got swaraj (Independence), but Swadeshi and Swabhasha were left behind,” he said.
The country which loses its language country also loses its civilization, culture and its original thinking, he said. Countries that lose their original thinking cannot contribute to the progress of the world, he added.
It is very important for everyone to preserve and nurture all the languages of India, he said.
“India has the largest number of spoken script languages in the world. We have to take them forward,” he said.
The stronger and richer the language, the more extensive and powerful the culture and civilization will be, he said.
Shah said, “It is matter of joy for me that we have succeeded in taking the Rajbhasha Sammelan out of the lanes of Delhi. We had taken the decision to organise it outside Delhi in 2019 but it could not be done due to the global pandemic corona. Today, it is taking place in Kashi under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.”
Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is being celebrated to mark 75 years of Independence.
Shah, prior to his address, released a Hindi magazine at Akhil Bhartiya Rajbhasha Sammelan at Deendayal Hastkala Sankul in Varanasi.
Ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Union home minister also held a review meeting with Vidhan Sabha in charges and district presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Varanasi on Friday.
