Agartala: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday advocated the adoption of the Nagari (Devanagari) script for languages and dialects that do not have a definite script and urged parents to ensure that children learn their mother tongue.
Addressing the Joint Regional Conference on Rajbhasha here, Shah said an ethnic group’s identity could be protected if its language was written in a script that originated in the country. He said languages without a script should adopt the Nagari script, describing it as suitable for Indian-origin languages.
His remarks come amid an ongoing debate in Tripura over the script for Kokborok, the state’s second most widely spoken language. While the ruling BJP has supported the Devanagari or Bengali scripts for Kokborok, the Tipra Motha Party and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, among others, have sought adoption of the Roman script.
Shah said several regional languages and dialects in the Northeast had adopted the Nagari script, which, according to him, strengthened their identity and culture. He said script and language should not become matters of dispute and stressed the need for consensus.
He also appealed to parents to teach children their mother tongue, saying that lack of instruction in it could distance them from their literature, history and culture. He added that children should be able to read, write and speak their mother tongue irrespective of the medium of instruction chosen for formal education.
Rejecting allegations of Hindi imposition, Shah said there was no competition between Hindi and regional languages and that promotion of Hindi would also strengthen other Indian languages.
He said concerns that learning in one’s own language would lead to isolation were unfounded, citing countries such as Germany, Japan and France as examples of developed nations using their native languages.
Referring to the security situation in the Northeast, Shah said that since 2014, 21 peace accords had been signed and around 11,000 youths had surrendered and joined the mainstream. He said incidents such as strikes and blockades had declined and that tourism and investment had increased in the region.
Highlighting the Northeast’s diversity, he said more than 200 languages and dialects were spoken in the region and over 200 tribal communities lived there, with numerous festivals and traditional dance forms.
Shah said the Rajbhasha Department had created “Hindi Shabda Sindhu” and incorporated 84,000 words from different Indian languages.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha and senior officials of the Rajbhasha Department also addressed the conference. Books were released on the occasion and AI-enabled spectacles were distributed among visually impaired persons, officials said.
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