Amit Shah Re-elected as Chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Official Language; Highlights Hindi's Role in National Integration

Expressing his gratitude, Shri Shah thanked all the committee members for their unanimous support.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, has been unanimously re-elected as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language. Following the formation of the new government, the committee was reconstituted during a meeting in New Delhi, where Shri Shah was chosen to continue his role as Chairperson, a position he held from 2019 to 2024. Expressing his gratitude, Shri Shah thanked all the committee members for their unanimous support.

In his address, Shri Shah emphasized that while efforts to promote the official language have been ongoing for the last 75 years, the approach has evolved in the past decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He reiterated that Hindi should not compete with local languages but instead complement them, promoting inclusivity without creating any feelings of inferiority among speakers of other languages. Hindi, he said, should be accepted as a common language of work with consensus.

Shri Shah highlighted the development of a comprehensive Hindi dictionary in collaboration with the education department, integrating thousands of words from various local languages to make Hindi more flexible and enriched. He also announced the creation of software to translate all 8th Schedule languages, a move expected to accelerate Hindi's adoption in government work.

The Home Minister called for continued cooperation, with a vision that by 2047, all government work in India will be conducted proudly in Indian languages. He noted that freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and Sardar Patel recognized the need for a common language to bridge India's linguistic diversity. Shri Shah emphasized that the new education policy encourages primary education in a child’s mother tongue, fostering a connection with other Indian languages.

As part of the 75th year since Hindi was declared the official language, Shri Shah announced a large-scale conference to be held at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi. The Parliamentary Committee on Official Language, first constituted in 1976 under the Official Languages Act of 1963, consists of 30 members, including 20 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. Newly appointed MPs and officials, including Secretary Smt. Anshuli Arya, also attended the meeting.