Respect All Languages But Not At Cost Of Mother Tongue: Mamata Banerjee On Hindi Divas

Hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s pitch for Hindi as the nation’s common language saying it is the most spoken language which can unite the nation as a common language, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that people should respect all languages and cultures equally but not at the cost of their mother tongues.

Greeting people on the occasion of Hindi Divas, the chief minister tweeted, “My best wishes to all on #HindiDiwas. We should respect all languages and cultures equally. We may learn many languages but we should never forget our mother-language.”

She also posted the greetings in another tweet in Hindi.

Earlier, Shah tweeted, “India has many languages and every language has its importance. But it is absolutely necessary that the entire country should have one language that becomes India’s identity internationally”.

Shah said that today, if any language which can unite the country, it is Hindi that is spoken the most.

“I want to appeal to people to promote their native languages but also use Hindi to make the dream of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) and Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel of one language come true,” he tweeted.

Later, speaking at a ‘Hindi Divas’ function in New Delhi, Shah said Hindi should reach every individual and every home in the country.

Hindi Divas is observed to mark the decision of the Constituent Assembly to extend official language status to Hindi on this day in 1949. It was first observed in 1953.