Union Home Minister Amit Shah once again pushed for learning Hindi as he called for the need to preserve the country's native languages on Sunday during an address at the Indian Institute of Teacher Education (IITE), Ahmedabad. He emphasised he was not against English, but children in India should learn both their respective mother tongues as well as Hindi, news agency PTI reported. The former Gujarat minister was addressing the graduating students of the institute during its convocation ceremony.
Highlighting the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, he said, "It is your responsibility to preserve and enhance all Indian languages because they contain our culture, history, literature and grammar. We have to make our language strong. An important aspect of the National Education Policy 2020 is to teach children in their mother tongue."
"I believe that children should learn French, German along with English, but a child from Gujarat should learn both Gujarati and Hindi, an Assamese should learn both Assamese and Hindi, and a Tamil should learn both Tamil and Hindi. If this happens, then nobody can stop our country from progressing," Shah added, as quoted by PTI.
He also urged the graduating students to utilise the wealth of knowledge that is available in the Sanskrit language, Upanishads, and Vedas.
"Sanskrit is one of the four papers that are taught to you...I would request you to improve upon whatever basic knowledge of Sanskrit you have received here. If there is one place in the whole world where a wealth of knowledge is collected, then it is our Upanishads, Vedas and Sanskrit. Once you study them, no problem of life will remain a problem for you," he remarked.
Shah emphasised that the aim of this institute (IITE), founded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his tenure as Gujarat's chief minister, was to unify the Eastern and western educational philosophies.
He added that Vedas teach people to collect good ideas from wherever they can without getting into where the knowledge has come from.
"We should see whether the knowledge is for the benefit of the society, people, world, and universe without caring about where it has come from," the Union Home Minister said, as quoted by PTI.
He stressed that it is important to connect India's ancient educational philosophy with the modern dimension. There have been many changes in the fields of knowledge and science, and we should understand the changes and unify the two to create a complete education system, he said.
Tamil Nadu Pushback On Shah's Hindi Pitch
Earlier this month, Shah's Hindi push was criticised by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin who tweeted, "I strongly denounce Union Home Minister @AmitShah's audacious push for Hindi acceptance. It's a blatant attempt to subjugate non-Hindi speakers. Tamil Nadu rejects any form of Hindi hegemony and imposition. Our language and heritage define us – we won't be enslaved by Hindi!"
Recalling the 1965 Anti-Hindi Imposition Agitations, he warned Shah against inciting similar feelings.
The remarks came after the Union Minister emphasised that Hindi must be accepted without reservation, even if it does so gradually. He stressed that Hindi does not compete with other languages and pitched for promoting all Indian languages for the empowerment of the nation.