The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir stated that India could not have a national language due to its diversity
On Thursday Omar Abdullah, President of the National Conference said that India is too diverse a country to have a national language. He said, “The idea of India is that it gives space to everybody. If the Indian currency note gives space to all languages, then it’s understood that we are more than just one language, culture and religion”.
The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir also commented on how he feels about slogans outside mosques. He asked how one would feel when subjected to sloganeering like, if you want to stay in this country you will have to chant Jai Shree Ram. He added how one would feel when houses belonging to Muslims are bulldozed.
The former minister said that it was difficult to watch TV anchors stating how only roofs of the household were bulldozed, trying to justify the act. There is a sentiment attached. “Those who are expected to be impartial take a very partial position. TV anchors pass remarks like “will we have to import more bulldozers or make them in India,” he commented.
His comments came as a reaction to the recent disagreement between actors Kichcha Sudeepa and Ajay Devgan. The Kannada actor had tweeted about ‘K.G.F: Chapter 2’, which has done tremendously well even in North India, that, “everyone says that a Kannada film was made on a pan-India level but a small correction is that Hindi is not a national language anymore”.
Ajay Devgan responded to the tweet with a tweet stating Hindi was and will always be our mother tongue and national language.
This exchange of tweets soon became a national controversy with many including Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai supporting Sudeepa and pointing out how Hindi is not India’s national language. The chief minister stated “What Sudeep has said is right. After the formation of states, they had their regional languages; those mother tongues have assumed importance in the respective states. What Sudeep has said is right. Each of us should respect this.”
Published By – Chirag Agrawal
Edited By – Architha Menon M
