Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu kicked up a controversy on Saturday by saying that Hindi is our national language and India could not progress without it.
He said that it is our mother tongue and our identity and we should be proud of it.
Naidu added, “There should be no opposition to learning any language. But while learning English, our minds have become trained like the English people and this is not good. This is not in the interests of the nation.”
He said people who have made sacrifices for the nation and dedicated their entire lives, there is very little mention in our history about those great people, while adding “This is unfortunate”.
These were some of his statements as tweeted by ANI:
Hindi rashtrabhasha hai. Hindi ke bina Bharat mein aage badhna sambhav nahi hai: Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu pic.twitter.com/z9vOzY6jvw
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 24, 2017
Hamari matrabhasha hamari pehchan hai. Hamein ispe garv karna chahiye: Venkaiah Naidu pic.twitter.com/AngADOqxBB
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 24, 2017
Angrezi seekhte seekhte hum angrezi mind mein bhi aa gaye hain. Ye desh ke hit mein nahi hai: Venkaiah Naidu pic.twitter.com/Zx747kKuvx
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 24, 2017
So is Hindi our national language?
As per Article 343 of the Constitution, Hindi is one of the 22 official languages in India but not a national language. Even though Hindi remains the most spoken mother tongue in the country, 60% of the population speaks a language other than Hindi.
Hindi in Devanagari script along with English, were deemed official languages under the Constitution in 1950 which also stipulated that Parliamentary business may be conducted in Hindi or English.
In January 2010, even the Gujarat High Court had observed that while a majority of the population who speak Hindi may have accepted it as a national language, but officially its not.
Meanwhile, Twitterati were quick to respond with #StopHindiImposition trending.
@MVenkaiahNaidu what are you smoking these days? No progress without Hindi!!! Shame. Wait for Karnataka elections 2018#stopHindiImposition https://t.co/l0sCKnUSJN
— Pradeep Kumar H N (@pradeepkumarhn) June 24, 2017
Dear @MVenkaiahNaidu if hindi peoples are so progressive then why will dey come to bengaluru seeking for job and bread #StopHindiImposition https://t.co/5WO4rARq9G
— ಉದಯ ಕರಿಯಪ್ಳ (@udayakariyapla) June 24, 2017
Mr. @MVenkaiahNaidu plz knw d fact & talk in frnt of media.There is no national langauage of INDIA.#StopHindiImposition #NammaMetroHindiBeda
— Ram yadav (@im_ram10) June 24, 2017
So you want to keep only hindi speaking states in India and give forced sepeartion to all others states ?! #StopHindiImposition
— K Parthasarathy (@sarthy_partha) June 24, 2017
@MVenkaiahNaidu u were dethroned 4 nt knowin Kannada n how du expect us 2 take Hindi Imposing Shit #StopHindiImposition #NammaMetroHindiBeda
— Naren Marol (@NarenDon) June 24, 2017
@narendramodi @AmitShah This #HindiImposition along with killing Linguistic diversity will disturb Harmony of India. #StopHindiImposition
— Vshwas Basavaraj (@Vshwashere) June 24, 2017
Those secessionist fuelling this sentiment for political mileage, will get taste of their own medicine #2019 election #StopHindiImposition
— Vivek AS (@vivekas) June 24, 2017