Amit Shah's Hindi Pitch Triggers Linguistic Debate, Opposition Says Will Never Let It Happen

While Congress has said that Shah was trying to divert public attention from real issues, TMC asserted that BJP's agenda of "one nation, one language and one religion" will remain unfulfilled.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Opposition parties including the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are up in arms over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent proposal to accept Hindi as an alternative language to English. 

Leaders of the aforementioned political parties have even accused Shah of trying to impose Hindi and said in doing so he is doing a disservice to the language.

While Congress has said that with his remarks, Shah was trying to divert public attention from the issues of inflation and price rise, TMC asserted that Bharatiya Janata Party's agenda of "one nation, one language and one religion" will remain unfulfilled.

Shah on Thursday said Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages.

Presiding over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, Shah said PM Narendra Modi has decided that the medium of running the government is the official language and this will definitely increase the importance of Hindi.

He also said that now the time has come to make the official language Hindi an important part of the unity of the country.

Here's How Opposition Reacted To Amit Shah's Remarks

Hindi Not India's National Language, Will Never Let It Happen: Congress

Asserting that Hindi is not India's national language, former Karnataka chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday accused the ruling BJP of trying to unleash its agenda of "cultural terrorism" against non-Hindi speaking states.

"As a Kannadiga, I take strong offence to @HMOIndia @AmitShah's comment on Official language & medium of communication. Hindi is not our National Language & we will never let it to be," Siddaramaiah tweeted with the tagline "#IndiaAgainstHindiImposition"

As a Kannadiga, I take strong offence to @HMOIndia @AmitShah's comment on Official language & medium of communication.

Hindi is not our National Language & we will never let it to be.#IndiaAgainstHindiImposition

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 8, 2022

Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Hindi is 'Raj Bhasha' (official language) and not 'Rashtra Bhasha' (national language), as Rajnath Singh had noted in Parliament when he was the Home Minister.

Even Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the Home Minister has tried to sermonise about Hindi which he should not.

BJP's Attempts To Impose Hindi Will Be Resisted: TMC

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC asserted that any effort to impose Hindi by the BJP-led Centre on non-Hindi speaking states will be resisted.

"Even India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said that Hindi will not be imposed on non-Hindi speaking states until they are willing to accept it," senior TMC leader Sougata Roy said

Amit Shah's Hindi Pitch Against Integrity, Pluralism: DMK

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President MK Stalin said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah's thrust on Hindi went against India's 'integrity and pluralism', and it would not succeed. He also claimed that Home Minister's statements would wreck the nation's integrity.

"Does @AmitShah think that 'Hindi state' is enough and Indian states are not needed?" he tweeted. The Chief Minister further said that a single language would not help the cause of unity and the character of being singular cannot create integrity.