Amit Shah pitches for a common language for India, says Hindi is spoken most, can unite country
New Delhi, Sep 14: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday pitched for a common language for the country and said it is Hindi which is spoken the most and can unite the whole country.
The home minister also said efforts will be made to expand Hindi to different parts of the country and asked everyone to use their native languages as much as possible.
"India has many languages and every language has its importance. But it is absolutely necessary that the entire country should have one language that becomes India's identity globally," he said in a series of tweets in Hindi.
Shah said that today, if any language which can unite the country, it is Hindi that is spoken the most.
"I want to appeal to people to promote their native languages but also use Hindi to make the dream of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) and Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel of one language come true," he tweeted.
Later, speaking at a 'Hindi Divas' function, Shah said Hindi should reach every individual and every home in the country.
"Next year we will hold the Hindi Divas functions in different parts of the country. I appeal to every parents to speak to their children in their own language and also with the co-workers," he said.
He said when the country will face the next general election in 2024, Hindi would have achieved a monumental status.
The home minister said socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia had said in a democracy, the language of the government should be a language which people can understand.
"When I first took charge of the Home Ministry, in the first 10 days, not a single file has come to me with Hindi noting. Now, 60 per cent files which come to me have Hindi notings," he said.
Shah said a language can survive only if the new generation feels proud in speaking in the language.
"It is our strength that we have many languages and dialects. We have to see that a foreign language does not overtake a native language," he said.
The home minister also said during the freedom struggle, the Congress conventions used to take place in different parts of the country and such initiatives empowered Hindi in those areas.
Shah said if a Hindi-medium student is asked to speak for 40 minutes in Hindi, he won't be able to do so.
"There is so much influence of English on us that we cannot talk in Hindi without its help," he said.
Shah said Hindi should be taken in areas like law, science and technology.
He said the Centre will teach children in northeast states to read and write Hindi.
"I was in Guwahati last week. I am told that many people are hiring private tutors to teach Hindi to their children. We have decided that we will teach them Hindi, he said.
The home minister also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee and late External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who delivered their speeches in UN General Assembly in Hindi.
"Swaraj had ensured that the UN issues regular Hindi bulletins also tweets in Hindi," he said.
Hindi Divas is observed to mark the decision of the Constituent Assembly to extend official language status to Hindi on this day in 1949. It was first observed in 1953.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
