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‘Hindi not a competitor, but a friend of all languages’: Amit Shah
On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Union home minister Amit Shah denounced “disinformation” to pit Hindi against other regional languages
Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that Hindi language is not a competitor but is a “friend” of all the other languages in the country while denouncing “disinformation” to pit Hindi against other regional languages.
Speaking at the All India Official Language conference on the occasion of Hindi Diwas, the home minister underlined the unifying factor of the Hindi language and stressed on the need to strengthen regional languages. “Hindi unites the whole nation in a thread of unity as an official language,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also greeted people on the occasion of Hindi Diwas. “Hindi has brought special honour to India all over the world. Its simplicity, spontaneity and sensitivity always attract. On Hindi Diwas, I extend my heartfelt greetings to all those people who have contributed tirelessly in making it prosperous and empowered,” PM Modi said in a tweet.
Shah said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is committed for the “parallel development” of all local languages including Hindi. He added that accepting the co-existence of languages was needed and stressed the need to make Hindi flexible by taking words from other languages to expand its dictionary.
“I want to make one thing very clear. Some people are spreading disinformation that Hindi and Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil, Hindi and Marathi are competitors. Hindi cannot be a competitor to any other language in the country. You must understand that Hindi is the friend of all the languages of the country,” Shah said.
His comments came at the time when there is a raging debate, especially in the southern Indian states, that the Centre was trying to impose Hindi on the non-Hindi speaking people of the country. In Karnataka, the Janata Dal (Secular) protested over celebration of Hindi language.
JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy questioned how the government was spending money on Hindi Diwas. “Instead of celebrating Kannada, the (chief minister Basavaraj) Bommai government is celebrating Hindi,” he said during the protest in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Former Karnataka MLA and leader of Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha (KCVP), Vatal Nagaraj, was arrested by the Bengaluru police on Wednesday for organising a protest against government celebrating Hindi Diwas.
Several southern India parties, especially the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, has accused the Central government of trying to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking people. On Spetember 21, 1957, the DMK organised an anti-Hindi conference and decided to celebrate the day against alleged “imposition” of Hindi.
Shah said the regional languages in the country will prosper only when Hindi prospers, and vice versa.
“Everybody should accept and understand this. So long as we do not accept the co-existence of languages, we cannot realise the dream of running the country in our own language. And I want to say with sincerity that it should be our aim to keep all the languages and mother tongues alive and prosperous. Only with the prosperity of all these languages will Hindi prosper,” Shah added.
“Official language Hindi unites the nation in the thread of unity. Hindi is a friend of all Indian languages. I salute the great personalities who have contributed in the preservation and promotion of Hindi,” Shah said in a tweet in Hindi.
Every year Hindi Diwas is observed on September 14. The day is dedicated to the Hindi language after it was announced as the official language of the Union of India. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, had officially declared September 14 as the Hindi Diwas.
