Difficult to understand India's problems without knowing Hindi: Maha governor

The governor’s observation came when a 9-member delegation of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, led by the Committee's Convenor Dr Dinesh Sharma, MP from Uttar Pradesh, called on him at Raj Bhavan Mumbai on Tuesday.

Mumbai: Amidst ongoing language tensions in Maharashtra, the governor of the state C P Radhakrishnan said, "It is difficult to understand the problems of people across the country unless one knows Hindi".

The governor’s observation came when a 9-member delegation of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, led by the Committee's Convenor Dr Dinesh Sharma, MP from Uttar Pradesh, called on him at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Dr Sharma informed that the committee works with the objective of promoting regional languages across the country while also establishing Hindi as an associate language.

“The entire functioning of the Ministry of Home Affairs is conducted in Hindi, however, henceforth, letters received in Marathi will be replied to in Marathi, those received in Tamil language will be answered in Tamil, along with the Hindi translation of the reply,” Dr Sharma said.

Welcoming the Committee members to Raj Bhavan, the Governor remarked that it is difficult to understand the problems of people across the country unless one knows Hindi.

He said his entire school education was done in Tamil medium at a municipal school in his village. At that time, there were no private schools in his village, due to which he could not learn Hindi, something he regrets.

Radhakrishnan said after he became the Governor of Jharkhand, he realized that communication with the people was not possible without knowing Hindi. "Today, I can fully understand Hindi,” he said.

The Governor told the Committee members that in his capacity as Chancellor of state universities, he has advised universities to introduce foreign languages like German, Japanese, and Mandarin in their curriculum.

Committee Members Ramchandra Jangda (Haryana), Rajesh Verma (Bihar), Kritidevi Debbarman (Tripura), Kishorilal Sharma (Uttar Pradesh), Satpal Brahmachari (Haryana), Dr. Ajit Gopchhade (Maharashtra), Vishweshwar Hegde (Karnataka), and officials were present.