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Will not impose Hindi on those who don't speak it, says Centre

Only 4% of people in Karnataka know Hindi: Congress MP
Last Updated 21 July 2017, 20:21 IST
 Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiran Rijiju on Friday assured the Rajya Sabha that Hindi would not be imposed on those who don’t speak the language.

The minister’s statement assumes significance in view of  protests in some states, including Karnataka, that the Union government was trying to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states.

“Hindi is the official language and all other Indian languages are national languages. There is no question of imposing one language over other languages,” said Rijiju, who is in charge of the Department of Official Languages in the Central government.

He was responding to a private member’s bill moved by B K Hariprasad (Congress), seeking inclusion of Tulu and Kodava languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

“It is not a question of trying to impose Hindi. Let us be very clear. There is no question of discrimination. There is no special effort or attempt to promote Hindi,” the minister said.
Elaborating on the government’s three-language formula, Rijiju said it is already in existence and there is no bar on any state to conduct its business in regional languages.

The minister observed that the issue of language is very sensitive, and a slight mistake or misrepresentation can lead to many differences within the country.

“We have not given any preference to one language over another. While justice is being done, we must ensure that no complications arise in the future because it is a very sensitive subject,” Rijiju said.

Clarifying the government’s position, he said, “Hindi was made the official language taking into account the spirit of members of Parliament. Hindi has to be promoted but at the same time all other regional languages also have to be promoted”.

Hariprasad said the reason he insisted on the protection of Tulu and Kodava was because of a tendency on the part of the government to impose Hindi in south India where most of the people don’t even know the language. Only 4% people in Karnataka knew Hindi, he asserted.

“In the entire south India, the money order form is in English and Hindi; go to any bank, the challans are in English and Hindi; go to any Central government offices in the southern parts of the country, they are using only the two languages, Hindi and English. If you believe in three languages, the local languages such as Tamil, Kannada, Telugu or Malayalam should be there,” the Congress leader from Karnataka said.

Several MPs supported his view and asked the Centre not to impose Hindi on those whose mother tongue is different.

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(Published 21 July 2017, 20:21 IST)

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