Hindi Friend Of All, No Opposition To Any Foreign Language: Amit Shah

Union Home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said Hindi is not opposed to any Indian language, rather it is friends with all Indian languages and there should be no opposition to any foreign language in the country.

Addressing the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central government's official language department, Mr Shah also asked all the state governments to take the initiative to impart medical and engineering education in the local language.

The Centre will help all the state governments in using Indian languages to conduct administrative works, he said.

"I sincerely believe that Hindi can't be opposed ('virodhi') to any Indian language. Hindi is a friend ('sakhi') of all Indian languages," the home minister said.

Hindi and other Indian languages together can take the self-esteem of the country's culture to its final destination, Mr Shah said.

The home minister also said that everyone should get rid of the slavery mentality and until a person takes pride in his own language, or does not express himself in his language, that person cannot be free from the mentality of slavery.

"There is no opposition to any language. There should not be any opposition to any foreign language. But there should be an urge to glorify one's own language, there should be an urge to speak one's own language, there should be an urge to think in one's own language," he said.

Mr Shah also said 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 Indian languages alive and enrich them. We should make all efforts in the coming days for all Indian languages, especially for the official language," Mr Shah said.

Extending greetings to all the well wishes of the official language Hindi, the home minister congratulated the admirers of Indian languages across the country on the golden jubilee year of the department.

Mr Shah said this was the 50-year journey from 1975 to 2025 of the official language department and when India will celebrate the centenary of its Independence, the name of the official language will be inscribed in golden letters in the history of all the efforts made for the reawakening of India's pride.

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