Modi, Shah never understand India’s ‘unity in diversity’: TMC
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New Delhi: Amid the raging language debate, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien Friday said India has 22 constitutionally recognised languages and 19,500 languages and dialects, and this is the 'unity in diversity' of our country, PTI reported.
In a video statement, the TMC Parliamentary Party leader in Rajya Sabha said that 97 per cent of people use one of the recognised languages as their mother tongue, and he accused the Centre of not understanding this.
"In India, 97 per cent of people use one of the 22 constitutionally recognised languages as their mother tongue. 19,500 languages and dialects are used as mother tongues. This is the 'unity in diversity' of our great nation. Amit Shah, PM Narendra Modi and gang will never understand this," O'Brien said.
His remarks came amid reported comments by Home Minister Amit Shah on the English language.
TMC Rajya Sabha member Sagarika Ghose took to X and said Indians should not be ashamed of any language.
"English is a link language across India; it's aspirational, confers a global advantage, and millions demand knowledge of English. Indians should not be "ashamed" of any language," she said.
The 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
In 1950, when the Constitution was adopted, Article 343 declared that Hindi would be the official language and English would serve as an additional official language for a period not exceeding 15 years.
The Official Languages Act of 1963 made provision for the continuation of English as an official language alongside Hindi. It came into effect on 26 January 1965.
It says English should continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union and for the transaction of business in Parliament. The Act also says the English language shall be used for purposes of communication between the Union and a State which has not adopted Hindi as its official language.
