Amit Shah in Navi Mumbai: At Rajbhasha Sammelan 2026, Union Home Minister calls for respect for all Indian languages

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Monday said respecting preserving and developing all Indian languages was a firm commitment of the Centre and called for Hindi to act as a connecting language among the countrys diverse regional languagesAddressing the inauguration of Hindi Diwas 2026 and the 6th All India Rajbhasha Sammelan at the CIDCO Exhibition and Convention Centre in Vashi Navi Mumbai Shah said Indias regional languages were like different petals of a lotus and urged people to respect their richness while allowing Hindi to serve as a medium of coordination among themShah said the decision to take the Rajbhasha Sammelan beyond Delhi and organise it in different states had proved successful with Maharashtra hosting the sixth edition of the eventHe highlighted the role of Maharashtras Ganeshotsav and celebrations commemorating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in fostering cultural nationalism and patriotism across the country Shah said Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak had given a wider public character to these celebrationsHe also recalled Shivaji Maharajs emphasis on selfrule religion and language noting that the Maratha ruler had prepared the Rajvyavahar Kosh for the development and use of MarathiReferring to Vande Mataram Shah said Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyays song written during the period of British rule and featured in his novel Anandamath had become a national call during the freedom struggleShah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had revived the tradition of presenting the full version of Vande Mataram at government functions and had honoured Maharashtras historical identity by granting Marathi classicallanguage statusAmit Shah stresses importance of mother tongueEmphasising the importance of the mother tongue Shah said it formed the foundation of human thought and kept people connected to their culture traditions and valuesHe said the National Education Policy had emphasised education in the mother tongue at the primary level At the same time every student should learn at least one other Indian language to strengthen their connection with the country he saidShah said the Rajbhasha Department had made effective use of technology under the leadership of PM Modi More than five lakh Central government employees have been trained in Hindi he saidThe artificial intelligencebased Kanthasth 20 system has been made available with more than five crore sentences while Leela Rajbhasha and Leela Pravah have accelerated language learning initiativesHe said the Hindi Shabd Sindhu dictionary which initially had 51000 words had now expanded to eight lakh words Shah expressed confidence that it would become the worlds largest dictionary by 2029Fadnavis calls for respect for all Indian languagesMaharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called for a commitment to mutual respect among all Indian languages including Hindi and MarathiMy mother is Marathi but all other languages in the country are like my aunts While honouring ones mother one must also give full respect to ones aunts Fadnavis saidHe said education in the mother tongue improved students comprehension and the quality of education The concept of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat could become a reality only by increasing knowledge of Indian languages he saidFadnavis also recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressing the United Nations in Hindi and said India should increase the use of its rich languages in daily life and administrative workHe said Hindi was among the worlds most widely spoken languages and noted the contribution of writers such as Munshi Premchand Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Dushyant Kumar to Hindi literature Hindi had also played an important role as a language connecting people during the freedom struggle he saidShinde Sunetra Pawar highlight linguistic diversityMaharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde described Hindi as a friend of all Indian languages and said holding the conference in Maharashtra was also an honour for MarathiHe said Marathi and Hindi were closely related languages written in the Devanagari script and highlighted the contribution of saints including Dnyaneshwar Tukaram and Namdev to Indian thought He noted that compositions by Sant Namdev were included in the Guru Granth SahibShinde said the use of Hindi in Central government work had increased significantly compared with the period before 2014 and called for its wider use in science technology policing law and the judiciaryDeputy Chief Minister Sunetra Ajit Pawar stated that holding Hindi Diwas on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi was a significant coincidence She said Ganeshotsav promoted unity by bringing people togetherIndia may have many languages but the national sentiment of Indians is one Pawar said stressing the need to increase the use of Indian languages in administration education and modern technologyShe also said Mumbai and Navi Mumbai were examples of diverse linguistic communities living together harmoniously and called for government language to remain simple and easily understood by the common personBooks apps and language initiatives launchedDuring the event Shah launched several books and publications including a special Vande Mataram issue of Rajbhasha Bharati Shiv Anadi Shiv Anant Bharatiya Gyan Tantra Srot aur Swaroop Andheron Se Ujalon Tak and Vande Mataram Ke 150 AdhyayThe Defence Research and Development Organisation also released Navanvesh Bharatiya Gyan ParamparaIn the technology sector the Bharatiya Bahubhashik Anuvad Sarathi mobile application developed by CDAC and Bhashakunj an indigenous language data centre were launchedA Hindi dictionary resource Hindi typing training and Hindi shorthand training for citizens were also launched under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas YojanaThe 202526 Rajbhasha Kirti Awards were presented to various Central ministries government departments banks and public sector undertakings for their contribution to the promotion of Indian languagesUnion Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai MP Naresh Mhaske Rajbhasha Department Secretary Anshuli Arya VL Kantarav Joydeep Chattopadhyay a descendant of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Milind Prabhakar Sabnis were among those presentForest Minister Ganesh Naik local MLA Manda Mhatre Divisional Commissioner Rubal Agarwal District Collector Dr Shrikrishna Panchal Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Kailas Shinde and Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe were also present along with writers language experts administrative officials and citizens from across the country