Why Sushma’s chosen language for speeches, interactions is Hindi

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj can hold on to any conversation in English and Hindi with equal ease, not to forget she took oath in Sanskrit as a Lok Sabha member in 2014. But her chosen language for speech and diplomatic interactions has remained Hindi.

For Swaraj, giving a speech in Hindi at the UN General Assembly this time had an extra advantage - making her target audience better understand what she wanted to say.

And the target audience was in India and Pakistan. And she spoke to them in the language of their liking, which is her choice too.

This time, the Uri attack had turned the spotlight on Swaraj like never before. She had to counter Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who devoted a great deal of his speech focused on Kashmir.

Her challenge was to give a befitting reply without making her entire speech an IndiaPakistan slugfest.

She also had the task of launching an attack on Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism.

And her dexterity in languages just made it easy. “She was mostly addressing the domestic audience. International audience anyways, I don’t think, gives much importance to the India-Pakistan rhetoric,” said former career diplomat MK Bhadrakumar.

There has never been any dearth of praise Swaraj often receives for her speeches in Hindi.

BJP patriarch LK Advani once famously said two leaders give him complex when they speak - one was Vajpayee and the other was Swaraj.

SUSHMA’S CHALLENGE WAS TO GIVE A BEFITTING REPLY WITHOUT MAKING HER ENTIRE SPEECH AN INDIA-PAKISTAN SLUGFEST