Published 16:03 IST, September 15th 2019
Kerala CM Pinnarayi Vijayan slams Shah for his remark on Hindi Diwas
The controversy over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s pitch on Hindi Diwas continues, as Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan expresses his disagreement
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The controversy over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s pitch on Hindi Diwas continues, as Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan has expressed his disagreement on Shah’s statement, claiming it was 'absurd'. After a series of criticisms from opposition parties, the Kerala CM has taken to Twitter to condemn Shah about his Hindi Diwas remark.
Vijayan's tweet slamming Shah
No Indian should feel alienated because of language. India's strength is its ability to embrace diversity. Sangh Parivar must relinquish divisive policies. They must realize that people can see through the ploy; that this is an attempt to divert attention from the real problems.
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) September 15, 2019
The claim that Hindi unifies our country is absurd. That language is not the mother tongue of a majority of Indians. The move to inflict Hindi upon them amounts to enslaving them. Union Minister's statement is a war cry against the mother tongues of non-hindi speaking people.
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) September 15, 2019
Amit Shah's pitch of one language
Amit Shah, on the occasion of Hindi Diwas, pitched the idea of ‘one nation, one language’ during a speech in New Delhi. While speaking at Vigyan Bhawan, the BJP President said, "Diversity of languages & dialects is a strength of our nation. But there is a need for our nation to have one language so that foreign languages don't find a place. This is why our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as 'Raj bhasha'.
Praising Hindi as being 'more diverse than any other language in the world', he hailed it over English for its vocabulary, putting forth that it has rich words for expressing relations with human, country, nature, etc. He didn't however, limit the richness of vocabulary to Hindi alone, adding that other Indian languages also have a diverse vocabulary. Shah explained that a language can only survive when the young generation feels pride in speaking their language. Education institutes and teachers should stress the importance of native languages and its rich and proud history, he said.
“On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, we should introspect. There are many countries in this world whose languages have become extinct. The country that leaves its language loses its existence too. The country that loses its language can't preserve its culture”, he said. Amit Shah also spoke about the role of Hindi in India’s freedom struggle by saying “Hindi has played a huge role in the struggle for Independence. Pre-Independence Congress Meetings and the top leaders have given a lot of strength to Hindi.”
13:38 IST, September 15th 2019