Hindi Diwas: Leaders call for promoting all languages; PM, Shah term Hindi a unifying force

New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) Hindi Diwas was observed across India on Sunday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders underlining Hindi's role as a unifying factor in this linguistically diverse country while asserting the need for enriching all Indian languages.

PM Modi said the growing respect for Hindi on the world stage was a matter of pride and inspiration for all Indians, while Home Minister Amit Shah said Hindi should not just serve as a spoken tongue but must also become a language of science, technology, the judiciary, and police.

Hindi Diwas is celebrated every year on September 14 to mark the adoption of Hindi as an official language by the Constituent Assembly on September 14, 1949.

Indian missions abroad marked the occasion with essay competitions, poetry recitals, and seminars. Many foreign diplomats in India challenged themselves with Hindi tongue twisters, while the French Embassy shared a video on social media where its envoys explained why they were learning the language.

An evidence of Hindi's increasing global footprint is Russia witnessing a growing interest in students wanting to learn the language. Russia's Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Konstantin Mogilevsky, said, "We want more of our students to learn Hindi." "India is the world's most populous country today, and more and more Indians are starting to use Hindi in their daily lives instead of English. We need to learn Hindi and other Eastern languages," Mogilevsky told the Russian News Agency TASS.

Prime Minister Modi urged people to take a pledge to enrich all Indian languages, including Hindi, and pass them on to the coming generations with pride.

"Infinite best wishes to all of you on Hindi Diwas. Hindi is not just a medium of communication, but a living heritage of our identity and culture. On this occasion, let us all take a pledge to enrich all Indian languages, including Hindi, and pass them on to the coming generations with pride," Modi said in a post in Hindi on X.

"The growing respect of Hindi on the world stage is a matter of pride and inspiration for all of us," he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked everyone to respect all Indian languages and move forward towards a self-reliant, self-confident and developed country.

He also asserted that there was no conflict between Hindi and other Indian languages, and stressed that it should not just serve as a spoken tongue but must also become a language of science, technology, the judiciary, and police.

Shah said that while Sanskrit has given us "the Ganga of knowledge, and Hindi has taken this knowledge to every home, and that knowledge has reached every person through our local languages".

"Ours is fundamentally a language-oriented nation. Our languages have been a powerful medium for carrying forward culture, history, traditions, knowledge, science, philosophy, and spirituality from generation to generation," he said in a message on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.

Extending Hindi Diwas greetings, the home minister said he firmly believed that languages were moving forward together by becoming companions of one another, bound in the thread of unity.

He said even during the difficult period of slavery, Indian languages became the voice of resistance. "Our languages played a significant role in making the freedom movement a nationwide endeavour. Our freedom fighters connected the languages of the regions and villages with the freedom struggle.

"In the last decade, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a golden era of renaissance for Indian languages and culture has emerged. Whether it is the platform of the United Nations, the G-20 summit, or addressing the SCO, Modi Ji has enhanced the pride of Indian languages by communicating in Hindi and other Indian languages," he said.

In the 'Amrit Kaal' of Independence, the home minister said Modi has taken 'Panch Pran' (five pledges) to free the country from the symbols of slavery, in which languages have a significant role. "We must adopt Indian languages as the medium of communication and interaction," he said.

The home minister said in 2024, on Hindi Diwas, the Bharatiya Bhasha Anubhag was established with an aim of ensuring seamless translation between all major Indian languages.

"Our goal is to ensure that Hindi and other Indian languages become not just a medium of communication but the cornerstone of technology, science, justice, education, and administration," he said.

"Mithila's poet Vidyapati ji rightly said: 'Desil bayana sab jan mittha' means, one's own language is the sweetest," he said.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 5th Akhil Bharatiya Rajbhasha Sammelan, Shah also egged on Indians to preserve their languages and make them "immortal", urging parents to speak to children in their mother tongue.

"There is no conflict between Hindi and other Indian languages. Learned men like Dayanand Saraswati, Mahatma Gandhi, KM Munshi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and many others accepted Hindi and promoted it. Gujarat, where Gujarati and Hindi have coexisted, is an excellent example of the development of both languages," he said.

"This is very important for the child's future, as many psychologists and educationists have confirmed that a child thinks in his mother tongue. ... As soon as you impose a language other than the mother tongue on a child, 25 to 30 per cent of his mind's capacity will be spent in translating it," Shah added.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her government respects all languages as she highlighted several initiatives taken by her government for the welfare of Hindi-speaking people in the state, including the recognition of Hindi as an official language in areas where 10 per cent of the population speaks the language.

Banerjee said her government has also recognised Santali, Kurukh, Kudmali, Nepali, Urdu, Rajbanshi, Kamtapuri, Odia, Punjabi, and Telugu as official languages. "We have also made efforts to promote the Sadri language," she said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described Hindi as the "basis of our unity and the guardian of our identity". He also said that Hindi is the "carrier of our traditions that binds all Indians together and connects us to our roots".

"Let us resolve to use Hindi more and more and spread it globally, become partners in its development and make it the most effective language of the digital age," he said on X.

Adityanath's Assam counterpart, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said Hindi has played a key role in uniting the country while underscoring that Hindi attaining global prominence is a testimony to the country's strength.

Arunachal chief minister Pema Khandu urged people to adopt Hindi more actively in everyday life, thereby strengthening the unity and integrity of the nation.

Khandu said while Hindi unites people across the state and the nation, equal importance must be given to nurturing local tribal languages and traditions. "Our diversity is our strength. Alongside Hindi, preserving and promoting our mother tongues is essential to safeguarding Arunachal's cultural identity." PTI TEAM NSD NSD