Hindi not rival, but ally to other languages: Amit Shah
New Delhi: Days after facing criticism over his remarks on English, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said "Hindi is not a rival to any Indian language", but 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, Shah also asked all the state governments to take the initiative to impart medical and engineering education in the local language. Indian languages must be used to conduct administrative works, he said.
"I sincerely believe that Hindi can't be opposed to any Indian language. Hindi is a friend of all Indian languages," he said. Hindi and other Indian languages together can take the self-esteem of the country's culture to its zenith, Shah said.
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The home minister also said 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 this mentality.
"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.
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Shah said that for any nation, the
education policy
is a reflection of the path the country will take in the coming 50 years. The
NEP-2020
lays emphasis on teaching the
mother tongue
and the local language up to Class 5 and Class 8. "The development of our languages has been supported in principle and 104 books of the primary classes have been started in 22 states and union territories," Shah noted.
Shah said translated teaching material and books have been made available for classes 1 to 12 for Indian Sign Language. More than 200 TV channels provide educational content in 29 languages and over 366,000 e-content in 133 dialects, including 7 foreign languages, is made available on the DIKSHA platform.
He said this initiative of the NEP will go a long way in strengthening the official language and Indian languages. He said the examination for the post of constable in the
Central Armed Police Forces
(CAPFs) is now conducted in Indian languages and 95% of the applicants are taking the examination in their mother tongue.
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