Agartala: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that languages and their scripts should not be turned into political issues or subjects of controversy, and urged parents to speak to their children in their mother tongue, warning that otherwise future generations would be deprived of their own literature, culture and history.
Addressing the Joint Regional Official Language Conference (Rajbhasha Sammelan) of the Eastern, North-Eastern and Northern regions in Agartala, the Home Minister said that if children do not learn their mother tongue properly, they would be unable to understand their roots, traditions and cultural heritage.
“The government has stressed that primary education should be imparted in the students’ own mother tongues,” Shah said while addressing the conference.
Urging all stakeholders in the Northeastern region not to politicise languages or create controversies over scripts, the Home Minister emphasised the use of ‘Nagari Lipi’ for local languages, saying that it would help protect linguistic identities.
Noting that there are over 200 dialects across the eight Northeastern states, Shah said the region is home to more than 50 festivals, many ethnic communities, numerous dance forms and a vast diversity of cultures. He said that countries which have effectively used their own languages for governance and education have witnessed faster and more inclusive development.
“Some languages do not have scripts, but concrete steps must be taken to preserve such oral languages,” the Union Minister said, while dismissing criticism against Hindi and asserting that there is absolutely no conflict between Hindi and other Indian languages.
Claiming that the Northeastern region is the most appropriate place to strengthen Rajbhasha Hindi, Shah praised the people of Tripura, noting that Bengali, the tribal Kokborok language and Hindi are used simultaneously in the state. Referring to renowned artists from the Northeast, the Home Minister said that legendary singers Bhupen Hazarika, Sachin Dev Burman, Rahul Dev Burman, Zubeen Garg and many others achieved national and international recognition by singing Hindi songs, which provided them a wider platform.
Shah further said that many non-Hindi-speaking legendary leaders of India played a key role in promoting Hindi and jointly fought against British rule to establish Indian languages. He said that Hindi is not the primary language of Gujarat, his home state, but he learnt Hindi and now conducts most of his official work in the language.
Highlighting the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further strengthen Hindi, the Home Minister said that the Prime Minister set up the Department of Official Language under the Ministry of Home Affairs to expand the use of Hindi across the country.
Shah said that before the Modi government came to power in 2014, the Northeastern region was affected by widespread terrorist activities. However, following the signing of 21 peace agreements, more than 11,000 misguided youths from various extremist outfits surrendered their arms and ammunition and joined the mainstream.
“The Northeastern region earlier witnessed bombs and blockades. Today, it is witnessing growing tourism and attracting rising investment,” Shah said.
Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar, addressing the conference, said that language acts as a bridge between communities and that crores of people living abroad also speak Hindi. Despite being a Telugu-speaking individual, Kumar said he learnt Hindi inspired by the Union Home Minister and now carries out much of his official work in Hindi.
Several publications of the Department of Official Language were released at the event.
During the conference, 80 Regional Official Language Awards for 2024-25 were presented to Central government offices, banks and public sector undertakings for exemplary implementation of the Official Language Policy.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, three Tripura MPs — Biplab Kumar Deb, Rajib Bhattacharjee and Kriti Devi Debbarman — Department of Official Language Secretary Anshuli Arya and other dignitaries were present at the event.
More than 3,000 senior officials, representatives and experts from Central government offices, public sector undertakings and banks from over 20 states of the Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern regions participated in the conference.
The participating states included West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand from the Eastern region; Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim from the Northeastern region; and Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh from the Northern region.
(IANS)
