Language is an expression and not a substance, said Amit Shah. (FILE)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asked the youth never to abandon their mother tongue.
Addressing the graduating students of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda at its 71st convocation, he also asked them to study the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
"I would like to tell all degree-holders that do whatever in your life, but never abandon your mother tongue. Come out of this inferiority complex that (mastering a particular) language will give you acceptance," he said, speaking in Hindi.
"Language is an expression and not a substance. There can be any language for expression. When a person thinks and conducts research and analysis in his mother language, the capacity for the same increases many times. Along with analysis, it increases his capacity for logic and decision- making," he said.
One's mother tongue is the best medium for personality development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said.
"The languages of our country have the best grammar, literature, poetry and history, and unless we enrich them, we cannot improve the future of our country," Mr Shah added.
For this reason, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thought of "making mother tongue compulsory in primary education" under the NEP, he said.
He also urged the graduating students to study the NEP, which he said will clear their concepts about the use of education.
The NEP includes "Maharaja Sayajirao's idea of accessible education, Sardar Patel's idea of empowerment, Ambedkar's idea of knowledge, Aurobindo's idea of cultural and nationalistic education and Gandhi's emphasis on mother tongue," Mr Shah said.
Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the erstwhile ruler of the Baroda state, tried to establish an exemplary governance system, he said.
Dr BR Ambedkar framed our Constitution which is "among the best" in the world, Mr Shah said, adding that he could accomplish this because (early in his life) Maharaja Gaekwad had given him a scholarship.
Gaekwad worked to spread education, establish justice, uplift the deprived sections, provide irrigation for farmers and carry out social reforms. He worked to provide compulsory and free education, and laid the foundation for the Faculty of Fine Arts, Mr Shah said.
The NEP has tried to make education "stream-less and classless," he said.
"When it becomes so, you can think freely. The aim of education is not to gain a degree, good job, to get comforts in personal life. Its aim can be to become a complete human, and it is possible only when education is streamless and classless, and which is why (PM) Modi-ji has tried to make it so," he said.
The NEP was the first education policy in the country that did not face opposition from (the proponents of) any ideology or political party, the Union minister claimed.
Earlier in the day, Mr Shah inaugurated a redeveloped lake at Nardipura and laid foundation stones for various developmental projects at Kalol in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gandhinagar.
He also chaired a meeting of the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committees (DISHA) in Gandhinagar.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)