SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE
GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS OF HINDI AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE INDIAN
UNION
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER 14, 1999.
Hon'ble
Prime Minister, Hon'ble Minister of Home Affairs, Hindi scholars, ladies
and gentlemen,
I
feel greatly honoured to associate myself with this observation of the
Golden Jubilee of Hindi as our Official Language. On this occasion I extend
my heartiest greetings and good wishes to all scholars and lovers of Hindi.
Hindi
language is spoken and understood by a vast majority in India. Hindi,
is besides, an international language to-day. Large number of Indians
who have migrated and settled in different countries of the world speak
and propagate Hindi abroad. A large number of univeristies in the world
are teaching Hindi as a subject; and Hindi papers and periodical are also
being brought out from different places in the world.
Language
has been the principal means of human development. During the period of
our national struggle Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders
believed that India's genius could blossom out only through our own language.
A programme for the spread of Hindi in the South was taken under the inspiration
of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji had sent his youngest son Shri Devdas Gandhi
to Madras for this purpose. Thus came into existance the 'Dakshin Bharat
Hindi Prachar Sabha' at Madras. This institution has done a commendable
job for the spread of Hindi in all the four Southern states. Gandhiji
wanted Hindi to be taught in non-Hindi speaking areas but at the same
time he also wished that Hindi speaking people, too, should learn other
Indian languages.
In
fact non-Hindi people have contributed to the development of the Hindi
language. Amir Khusro, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and
Swati Thirunal are among the most prominent of them. Not only this, Hindi
has received meaningful support from several foreign scholars. The names
of such scholars of Hindi that come to our mind in this context are Grierson,
Maxmueller, Father Camil Bulcke, Dr. Stuart McGregor and Dr. Rupert Snell.
Ours
is a democratic country in which the people and their welfare are supreme.
In such a situation it becomes necessary that official work is carried
out in a language spoken by the common people. May be Mahatma Gandhi had
the same thing in his mind when he said, "......The first and the
greatest social service we can render is to revert to our vernaculars,
to restore Hindi to its natural place as the national language and we
carry our provincial proceedings in our respective vernaculars and national
proceedings in Hindi." To-day while the official language of the
Union is Hindi in Devanagari script, the multilingual character of India
has been maintained.
Hindi
is a living language with great flexibility and tolerance. It is this
quality of Hindi that provides it an immense capacity to adopt and assimilate
words and forms of other language. Hindi links us not only with the rest
of the South Asian sub-continent but with whole of Asia as also with other
countries like Mauritius, Fiji, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago.
Translation
is another method by which Hindi can flourish. Hindi Cinema also has,
through its popularity, helped promote simple and sweet Hindi in the country.
Hindi teachers and scholars should ally themselves to the powerful medium
of the cinema for the propagation of Hindi.
The
present is the age of science and technology, and a language of the people
must become a vehicle for this new knowledge apart from the emotions and
imageries of established tradition. Hindi to be a major language of the
world must become the vehicle of modern information technology. To love
Hindi is not to be against another language, even a foreign language.
We should not try to unlearn the foreign language that we have learnt,
but develop our knowledge of it further. In this era of globalisation
foreign language would be a great asset. Ultimately it would only enrich
Hindi and India. Now I have great pleasure to inaugurate this jubilee
celebrations by reciting a few lines of Hindi poet, Virendra Mishraji
:
Thank you very much.
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