Agartala, Feb 20 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday asserted that when Hindi is promoted, all other languages get strengthened.
Addressing the ‘Rajbhasha Sammelan’ or conference of official languages in Tripura’s capital Agartala, he said a false campaign had been underway that Hindi was being imposed on the people, but this had been dismantled over the last 10 years.
“There can’t be a dispute between Hindi and other local languages since they are two sisters of the same mother who have progressed hand in hand together,” he said.
“It was also propagated that if we promote our languages, we will fall behind in development, lag in research, and become isolated from the world. Be it Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Russia or China, these countries have advanced in their own languages. Today, all these countries are counted among the leaders in development,” he said.
Amid the controversy in the state over Kokorok, Shah said scripts and languages cannot be issues of dispute.
“In Tripura, a different demand has been raised. My appeal is to adopt Devanagari because most people from the Northeast have already accepted it for their local language. How can people preserve their own language, culture and tradition by adopting a foreign script? Script and language can be issues of dispute,” he said.
BJP’s ally Tipra Motha Party has been demanding that only Roman script be used for Kokborok, used by the state’s tribal population. Both Bengali and Roman scripts have so far been used for the language.
“There are many languages in the country, each with its own script, but there are also many dialects that do not have any script of their own. These dialects, too, should be preserved and archived. If these dialects are to be protected, then it will be necessary to create a common script for them, and it is from here that the idea of the Devanagari script gains strength,” Shah said.
He said Devanagari is a computer-friendly script and also the most scientific script.
Shah also urged people to talk to their children at home in their mother tongue.
“If you can’t do this, your children will remain deprived of the literature in their mother tongue, tradition and culture. We must use the mother tongue at home as much as possible,” he said.
Shah also recalled the contributions of icons such as Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, Keshab Chandra Sen, Subhash Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, BR Ambedkar and Rabindranath Tagore to strengthen Hindi.
“They had rightly thought that the country would not grow if ‘Rajbhasha’ is not developed,” he said.
Shah said PM Modi has transformed the Northeast region from a land of ‘vivad’ (disputes) to a place of ‘vikas’ (development).
“As many as 21 peace accords with outlawed groups have been signed since 2014. About 11,000 misguided youths have been brought back to the mainstream after Narendra Modi became the PM,” he said.
“Today, the Northeast is moving forward on the path of development. There was a time when shutdowns, blockades, and gunfire were a regular affair here. Tourism is growing here today. The ‘Rajbhasha Sammelan’ of the entire North India is also being held, and investments are increasing rapidly here,” he added.
Shah said the Northeast is the most suitable place to strengthen Indian languages.
“In the eight states of the Northeast, hundreds of languages and dialects are spoken. Such diversity, tradition, and richness are perhaps hardly found in any other region,” he said. PTI PS SOM
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