Row after Shah says Hindi can be nation’s common language

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday called for Hindi to be made the unifying language of India in a pitch that predictably and instantly incensed political parties in south India, where states are extremely sensitive about their distinct linguistic identities.

Shah’s pitch came in a series of tweets to mark Hindi Divas (Day) and in one of which he wrote: “There are several languages in India and they have their own importance, but it is also important for the nation to have one language that it is identified by globally. Today, if there is one language that can bind the nation, it’s Hindi, the most widely-spoken language of the country.” He invoked Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel in support of his call. “I appeal to the citizens of the country to increase the use of our mother tongue and also, by using Hindi, to contribute to the realisation of the dream of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) and Iron Man Sardar Patel of having one language for the country.”

At a function to celebrate Hindi Diwas in New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan, Shah said the government would celebrate Hindi Saptah (week) publicly from 2020 and the language would reach monumental heights by the 2024 general elections.

To be sure, the home minister

did say that Hindi’s spread will not be at the cost of any other language and that Hindi was a language of coexistence.

Hindi Divas is observed to mark the decision of the Constituent Assembly to extend official language status to Hindi on this day in 1949.