New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that Hindi is not a rival but a companion to other Indian languages and stressed that there is no conflict between them.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 5th Akhil Rajbhasha Sammelan in Gandhinagar on the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Shah said Hindi should go beyond being a language of conversation or administration. “Hindi should be the language of science, technology, judiciary and the police. When such work is conducted in Indian languages, the connection with citizens strengthens automatically,” he said.
Reiterating that “Hindi is not a competitor of Indian languages but a friend,” Shah cited Gujarat as an example of linguistic coexistence. “Gujarat is not a Hindi-speaking state; its language is Gujarati. Yet, from the beginning, scholars like Dayanand Saraswati, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, K. M. Munshi and others accepted and propagated Hindi. With the coexistence of Hindi and Gujarati, both languages developed. In Gujarat, Hindi holds a place in education and children learn, speak and study it as well,” he said.
Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, Shah added, “Gandhi ji was a Gujarati but he used to say that Hindi is the language which binds the country in one thread.”
The minister also highlighted two Central government initiatives: Bahubhashi Anuvad Sarthi, an application for translation, and Hindi Shabd Sindhu, a dictionary of the Hindi language. Invoking Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shah said, “In his fight for Swaraj, Shivaji Maharaj put forth three points: Swaraj, Swadharma and Swa-bhasha. All three are linked with each other and with the country’s Swabhiman. A country that does not have its own language for conversation cannot desire independence and cannot feel Swabhiman. This can happen only when we are proud of our languages.”
Shah pointed out that the Hindi Shabd Sindhu began with 51,000 words and has now crossed seven lakh entries. “By 2029, it will be the biggest dictionary among all languages in the world,” he said.
On making Hindi more inclusive, Shah observed that many Hindi scholars insist on using pure Sanskritised vocabulary. “There is no problem with that,” he noted, “but the emptiness in Hindi must be filled with words from other Indian languages. Only then will other Indian languages and their speakers feel Hindi as their own. Hindi can truly become a language of conversation when it becomes flexible. Those who do not change with time become history — but our language will not become history. It is our history, our present and our future.”
Shah concluded by urging parents to speak to their children in their mother tongue.