Rahul Gandhi Takes A Dig At Centre's Hindi Push, Says Many Languages Are Not India's Weakness

Stepping into the shoes of other opposition leaders, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a dig at Centre's mega plan to push Hindi across the country, stating that India's many languages are not her weakness. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi gave a mention about 23 Indian languages, flaunting the linguistic diversity in the country. The languages he wrote about include Oriya, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, English, Gujarati, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Konkani, Malayalam, Telegu, Assamese, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Nepali, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Santhali and Manipuri.

"India's many languages are not her weakness," the Congress leader tweeted along with the list of some spoken languages across the country.

READ | Kannada 'Principal' Language Of Karnataka, Says CM Yediyurappa Amid Centre's Mega Hindi Push

🇮🇳Oriya 🇮🇳 Marathi
🇮🇳 Kannada 🇮🇳Hindi 🇮🇳Tamil
🇮🇳English 🇮🇳Gujarati
🇮🇳Bengali 🇮🇳Urdu 🇮🇳Punjabi 🇮🇳 Konkani 🇮🇳Malayalam
🇮🇳Telugu 🇮🇳Assamese
🇮🇳Bodo 🇮🇳Dogri 🇮🇳Maithili 🇮🇳Nepali 🇮🇳Sanskrit
🇮🇳Kashmiri 🇮🇳Sindhi
🇮🇳Santhali 🇮🇳Manipuri...

India’s many languages are not her weakness.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 16, 2019

Protest voices were raised across the country, specially in South, with opposition leaders from different political parties slamming Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his statement on the occasion of Hindi Diwas on Saturday. Shah said it was Hindi which is spoken the most and can unite the country. "While diversity in languages is India's strength, a national language is needed so that foreign languages and cultures do not overpower the country's own," he added.

READ | Hindi Diwas 2019: History, Significance Of World's Fourth Most Spoken Language

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu-based Dravida Munnetra Kazhaga (DMK) has upped the ante against "Hindi imposition", announcing protest demonstrations across the state on September 20 to condemn Shah's Hindi pitch. The agitation was to nip in the bud the "adverse effects" of "Hindi imposition on "mother Tamil" and the mother tongues of people of other (non-Hindi speaking) states," a resolution adopted by the party said.

Briefing reporters, DMK chief MK Stalin said the agitation was the first phase of protest on Hindi issue and the further course of action will be decided on the basis of Central government's response and consultations with like-minded parties.