Venkaiah Naidu bats for promotion of Hindi

New Delhi: Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu has described Hindi as the country’s symbol of socio-political and linguistic unity stressing on the need to translate literature of regional languages into it.

Speaking during an event to mark the Hindi Divas in the capital on Friday the Vice-President pointed out that Hindi was the main language for communication between the freedom fighters during the independence struggle as it was spoken and understood by most of the people in the country.

“The Hindi language has been the symbol of the country’s social, political, religious and linguistic unity. Perhaps, it is these qualities that make it most acceptable among all other languages even today. There should be more translation into Hindi specially of the literature of all regional languages, so that we can access these literatures easily,’’ Mr Naidu added.

 Mr Naidu claimed the debate was not over if  Hindi was the best among all Indian languages since some other languages were older and more vibrant than even Hindi.

Mr Naidu further added that use Hindi and regional languages in the functioning of the Union government and the state governments respectively, is necessary for the progress and strength of our democracy. “Every state has immense contribution in Hindi getting the present status,’’ he said.

Speaking at the event, home minister Rajnath Singh said that language was not just an expression of cultural heritage but a matter of  national pride. He also asked to promote Hindi and other regional languages.