NEW DELHI: Neither had Hindi competed nor would it compete, with any other Indian language, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in a video message on Hindi Diwas on Thursday.
Referring to renowned litterateur Bharatendu Harishchandra’s famous poem, ‘Nij Bhasha Unnati Ahey, Sab Unnati ko Mool’, the minister said that the original and creative expressions of any country are possible only through its own language.
“All our Indian languages and dialects are our cultural heritage, which we have to carry with us. Neither have Hindi ever competed nor will it compete with any other Indian language. Only by strengthening all our languages, a strong nation will be created,” Shah said, adding that Hindi will become a medium to empower all the local languages.
In his message, Shah said that India has been a country of diverse languages; Hindi unites the diversity of languages in the world’s largest democracy. “It has been a democratic language. It has honoured different Indian languages and dialects as well as many global languages and adopted their vocabularies, sentences and grammar rules... Hindi played an unprecedented role in uniting the country during the difficult days of the independence movement.
It instilled a feeling of unity in a country divided into many languages and dialects. Hindi, as a language of communication, played an important role in carrying forward the freedom struggle from East to West and North to South in the country,” he added.
Shah informed that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Official Language has recently submitted its 12th volume report to the President. “Only nine volumes of the report were submitted till 2014, but we have submitted three volumes in the last four years alone. Since 2019, Hindi Advisory Committees have been formed in all 59 ministries and their meetings are also being organised regularly,” he said.