‘Accept Hindi As Alternative To English’: Amit Shah Proposes, Opposition Disposes

New Delhi: Union Home minister Amit Shah on Friday proposed that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English, rather than local languages.

His suggestion evoked strong opposition from the Congress, Shiv Sena, DMK and Trinamool Congress.

Speaking at the 37th meeting of Parliamentary Official Language Committee, Shah suggested that it’s time to carry out a revision of the Hindi dictionary, a Press Information Bureau (PIB) statement said.

“Time has come to make the Official Language an important part of the unity of the country. When people from states which speak other languages communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India.

“Unless we make Hindi flexible by accepting words from other local languages, it will not be promoted,” Shah said.

Pointing out that 70 per cent of Union Cabinet’s agenda is now prepared in Hindi, the Home Minister stressed on the need for “elementary knowledge of Hindi for students up to 9th class” and “more attention to Hindi teaching examinations.”

Opposition parties wasted no time in voicing their dissent.

“As a Kannadiga, I take strong offence to @HMOIndia @AmitShah’s comment on Official language & medium of communication. Hindi is not our National Language & we will never let it to be,” Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah tweeted.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “We respect Hindi but we are opposing the imposition of Hindi. English is used internationally, a status quo should be maintained by the government on the issue of language. India has various states with various languages. Amit Shah needs to rethink what he has said.”

Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande said Shah’s suggestion reeked of an “agenda” to lower the value of regional languages and parties.

DMK MP TKS Elangovan said they want English as an alternative to Hindi.

“All non-Hindi states want English as an alternative to Hindi. They say they want Hindi as an alternative to English, which is not good for states like Tamil Nadu. We have a language that is much older than Hindi… Tamil has a history that leads back to 3,000 or more years. Hindi is a mixture of Sanskrit, Urdu and various other languages. This is not acceptable to us,” Elangovan stated.

Even AIADMK, which is a part of BJP-led NDA, opposed the move.

“Hindi cannot replace any regional language and for every person, their language is dearer and this statement of Hindi replacing any of the regional languages is not going to happen,” said the party’s spokesperson Kovai Sathyan.