Insistence should be to glorify our language: Home Minister Amit Shah

Emphasising that there is no opposition to any language, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday said the insistence should be to glorify our language, adding that Hindi is a friend of all Indian languages.

Addressing the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Official Language Department here, Home Minister Shah said, “There is no opposition to any language; there should not be opposition to any foreign language, but the insistence should be to glorify our language, there should be an insistence to speak our language, and there should be an insistence to think in our language.”

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He stressed that people should get rid of the mentality of slavery and added that until a person takes pride in his language, does not express himself in his language, he cannot be free from the mentality of slavery.

He noted that “I believe from my heart that Hindi cannot be the enemy of any Indian language. Hindi is a friend of all Indian languages, and Hindi and Indian languages together can take our self-esteem program to its ultimate goal.”

He averred that as far as the country is concerned, language is not just a medium of communication, it is the soul of a nation.

”It is important to keep the languages alive and to enrich them. We should make all these efforts in the coming days for all Indian languages and especially for the official language.”

Mr Shah said JEE, NEET and CUET are now being taken in 13 languages.
”Earlier, you could only apply for the constable recruitment of CAPF in English or Hindi. We made it flexible and allowed the exam in 13 languages, and today I am happy to say that 95 per cent of the candidates are giving the constable exam in their mother tongue. This tells how bright the future of Indian languages is in the coming days.”

A week earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said soon a time would come when those speaking English in the country would “feel ashamed”. Shah, who was speaking at a book launch event here, said those who do not speak Indian languages cease to remain fully Indian and that India cannot be understood through “foreign languages”.