Mumbai, Sep 14 (IANS) : Speaking at the 6th Akhil Bharatiya Rajbhasha Sammelan held in Navi Mumbai on the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, on Monday highlighted the role of the official language in national integration, praised Maharashtra’s multilingual heritage, and paid tribute to V.D. Savarkar and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Coinciding with the start of the Ganesh Utsav festival, HM Shah extended his greetings to the nation and noted that Lord Ganesha, the ‘Vighnaharta (remover of obstacles)’, would clear any hurdles in the path of developing Indian languages.
Sharing his personal experience, Shah said, “I come from Gujarat, where Hindi is not spoken; Gujarati is spoken. However, when my party assigned me responsibilities at the national level, I faced no difficulty working across the country because I could understand and speak Hindi. The official language provided me with a immense opportunity to serve nationwide.”
Describing Maharashtra as the land of Savarkar, HM Shah said that he was not only a freedom fighter and social reformer but also one of the most learned linguists of his time.
HM Shah also built upon Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s call for the purification of the Marathi language and coined numerous words that were previously absent in Indian languages—words that found natural acceptance in Marathi and other national languages.
HM Shah added that the Ministry of Home Affairs honoured Savarkar’s linguistic legacy in Hindi through the ‘Shabd Sindhu’ initiative.
He remarked that no state in India is as diverse and multilingual as Maharashtra, where languages like Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Hindi, Sindhi, and Warli co-exist and flourish together. He emphasised that Marathi deserves immense respect and noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi granted classical language status (Abhijat Bhasha) to Marathi.
Citing freedom fighter Vinoba Bhave, Shah shared Bhave’s words on how Hindi enabled him to carry the message of the ‘Bhoodan’ and ‘Gramdan’ movements to every village across Kashmir, Assam, and Kerala. He also credited Lokmanya Tilak for harnessing cultural nationalism by starting Ganesh Utsav in 1893 and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti to unite the nation.
Shah remembered Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj for defining ‘Swarajya (self-rule)’ beyond governance, incorporating ‘Swadharma (duty/faith)’ and ‘Swabhasha (native language)’ as its core pillars, while promoting Marathi in administration.
The Home Minister highlighted the historical role of Vande Mataram in awakening national consciousness during Colonial rule.
He also referred to the National Education Policy (NEP) introduced under PM Modi, which prioritises primary education in one’s mother tongue.
During the event, Shah launched training initiatives for Hindi language resources, shorthand, and typing, and felicitated the winners of the Rajbhasha Kirti and Rajbhasha Gaurav awards.
