Vowing to make Hindi the official language of his department, Haryana’s education minister, Mahipal Dhanda, called Hindi the “national language” that is understood by the majority.
“Hindi is our national language. Why should we work in English? I don’t know English…though I can understand it somewhat… In our state, 90 per cent of the people are far removed from English,” he exclaimed at an event in Kurukshetra to mark 11 years of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.
The Constitution of the India lists 22 official languages in the country. India does not have a national language.
Dhanda said he “would prefer if all work in Haryana is done in Hindi” to benefit those who don’t understand English.
“We cannot do injustice to 90-95 per cent people for 5-7 per cent people [who understand English]. So, I said my department will do all work in Hindi so that everyone understands what is written,” he added.
Later, in a post in Hindi on his social media handle on X, Dhanda wrote: “Hindi is our mother tongue and also our identity. We are proud of our mother tongue. It will be my endeavour that Hindi gets respect and priority in every field and Hindi is implemented everywhere.”
Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala reacted to Dhanda’s remarks on Thursday in a post on his own handle on X, saying that while he agrees with the education minister about Hindi being “our national language”, English should not be opposed unnecessarily since it is a “link language” that connects the world.
“I agree with Mahipal Dhanda that Hindi is our national language. We are proud of it and if someone does not know English, then there is no shame or problem in it,” wrote Surjewala in Hindi.
“But as the education minister of Haryana, his statement that our youth, our next generations do not need to learn English along with Hindi is not correct. In this way we will deprive them from progressing in the world. There should be no hesitation in knowing and learning English and there is no need to oppose it unnecessarily,” he added.
English is a “link language” all over the world, especially in south India, said the Congress leader, and “knowing English opens countless doors to employment as well as technology and science, increasing possibilities,” he opined.
Referring to the melting pot of cultures in Gurugram, where people from different parts of the country work in the corporate sector, Surjewala said English is mandatory for candidates to land jobs.
“More than one million people from Delhi and the country work in Gurugram alone and most of them are from outside Haryana. Reason – be it a call centre or a software company, knowing fluent English is mandatory to get a job,” he said.
The youth of Haryana that is proficient in English, said the Congress leader, has much better chances of securing employment in any field – be it software technology, IT, AI, engineering, robotics or solar and hydrogen revolution programmes – in any state or country.
“Knowledge, science, technology and innovation are the keys to the future. The link language for all these is English. Therefore, it is important that we train our youth in English along with Hindi. This is important for the state as well as for the future of the youth,” he said.
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