Union Minister Amit Shah on Friday, August 4, said that the official language must be eventually accepted without any kind of opposition, even if the pace is slow. He also added that the acceptance of the official language does not come from law or circulars, instead from goodwill, inspiration and encouragement. He was addressing the 38th meeting of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language. It is to be noted that Hindi is listed as one of the official languages in the Indian Constitution along with English.
Stating that Hindi was not in a competition with any local languages, Shah said that India can be empowered through the promotion of all Indian languages. He further said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged the promotion of “Panch Pran” (five vows) for India’s development. In his Independence Day speech for the year 2022, PM Modi said that we have to move forward with the five vows to realise the dreams of freedom fighters by the year 2047. The five vows he listed are: moving forward with bigger resolves; erase all traces of colonialism; be proud of our legacy; strength of our unity; and duties of citizens.
Shah said that in order to fulfill the vows of erasing traces of colonialism and respect for our legacy, all Indian languages, as well as the official language must show their strength. He also pointed out that the PM has not given a single English speech in the Parliamant and that many Ministers try to talk in Indian languages. Shah added that the respect we have for our legacy and heritage is not complete without respect for Indian languages and acceptance of official language. “Acceptance of official language will come only when we give respect to local languages,” he said. He also said that steps have been taken to provide engineering and medical courses in 10 languages and these courses will be available in all Indian languages subsequently.
The twelfth volume of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language was also approved during the meeting, which will later be presented to the President.