Amit Shah says English speakers will ‘soon feel ashamed’ in India
Those who speak English in India will soon feel ashamed and the creation of “such a society is not far away”, Union Minister Amit Shah can be heard saying in a video shared by news channels on Thursday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader also claimed that “our culture, our history and our religion cannot be understood in foreign languages”.
“A complete India cannot be imagined with aadhi-adhuri [incomplete] foreign languages, that can only happen with Indianness, with Indian languages,” Shah reportedly said at a book launch event in New Delhi.
He also called Indian languages “jewels of our culture”, adding that without them, “we cease to be Indians”.
On June 6, Shah launched the Bharatiya Bhasha Anubhag, or Indian Languages Section. This initiative aims to create an organised platform for all Indian languages, intending to “free the administration from the influence of foreign languages”.
The home minister’s comments on Thursday come against the backdrop of several state governments and regional parties accusing the Centre of imposing Hindi through the National Education Policy’s three-language formula.
On Tuesday, the Maharashtra government issued an order making Hindi a “generally” taught third language for students from Class 1 to Class 5 in Marathi and English medium schools.
Marathi language advocates criticised the move, accusing the government of reintroducing the three-language formula through the “backdoor”.
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