Set aside political differences, focus on promotion of Indian languages: Amit Shah Shah said children should learn their mother tongue and another Indian language to strengthen cultural ties and the ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ ideal.
Updated on: Sep 15, 2026, 07:59:14 IST By Neeraj Chauhan Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday said that Hindi has a connection with all other languages and that the government wants to enrich every language in India, while cautioning against creating linguistic discord.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (PTI) Asserting that regional languages are the queens in their respective provinces while Hindi is the central jewel among all these languages, Shah said India’s voice must remain one among many dialects.
He was speaking on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.
“Hindi has this connection with all the languages of the country because all these languages have been part of India’s everyday speech for centuries and have been in mutual interaction for hundreds of years,” Shah said.
“The government wants to make Indian languages, languages of governance and science, enrich literature, and connect Indian languages with one another to create a vast collective linguistic resource.
Whether it is the JEE, NEET or an undergraduate entrance examination, these examinations are now conducted in 13 languages,” he added.
Highlighting that the language issue should not be politicized, the home minister said, “I would like to tell those who try to create disputes between languages that a child can truly understand India only through his or her mother tongue.” “If the child attempts to understand India through a foreign language, there is a possibility of misunderstanding it.” Therefore, Shah said, “I urge everyone to set aside political differences and focus on promoting Indian languages.” He said those who oppose learning Indian languages do not realise how serious a mistake they are making.
“Children should learn Indian languages.
Learning a second Indian language means that a child will automatically become connected with the goal of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’.
Along with learning their mother tongue, if children learn another Indian language, they will automatically connect with their Indian identity and, freed from narrow-minded thinking, become true citizens committed to India.
The government wants to enrich every language of India.” Shah further highlighted the importance of Hindi and other languages working in tandem to represent Indian culture.
“As stated by Rabindranath Tagore, Indian culture and Indian literature are like a fully developed hundred-petalled lotus, each petal representing our regional languages.
The destruction of even one petal would destroy the beauty of the lotus.
Let the regional languages remain as queens in their respective provinces, while Hindi, as the central jewel among all these languages, continues to enhance the beauty of this hundred-petalled lotus,” Shah said.
“India’s languages may certainly have different notes, but the song is one, the song of patriotism is one and the song of our culture is one.
There is no objection to having many languages.
The sentiment must remain Indian.
There may be many dialects, but India’s voice must remain one,” he added.
While the government has reiterated several times that Hindi is a companion of other Indian languages rather than an adversary, southern political parties and non-Hindi speaking states have expressed fears of Hindi imposition.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Neeraj Chauhan Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations.
With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape.
Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces.
His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption.
He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack.
His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence.
Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya.
His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings.
He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy.
A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship.
He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin.
He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism.
