Learn one more Indian language, Shah urges students
Union Minister for Home Affairs, Amit Shah, once again stressed on the importance of learning an additional language besides one’s own mother tongue so as to realise and appreciate India’s rich cultural heritage in better manner. Addressing a gathering at the historic National Library in Kolkata, Shah said, “Apart from learning one’s mother tongue, every student should also learn at least another Indian language to better appreciate the country’s cultural diversity.”
“For the first time in 76 years of our Independence, our National Song Vande Mataram is being sung in our schools. We do not deny the importance of foreign ideas but along with this, our cultural heritage should also be preserved and explored to its full. This can happen only through our own language. Our language carries our heritage, and through languages you can understand a country’s culture. Mother language should be the basis of all our knowledge,” he added while inaugurating India’s first immersive language museum, Shabdalok, at the historic National Library, which once housed the official palace of India’s Governor General Lord Dalhousie, besides laying the foundation stone of world’s biggest Mishti Doi (sweet curd) plant at Sankrail in Howrah district.
The home minister said that all the Indian languages should be digitally empowered, which in turn would ensure that India became fully self-reliant by 2047. “We are committed to restore our heritage and culture to its former glory,” he said.
Claiming that the BJP Government had revived that aspiration, Shah said, “After a decade-long struggle and responding to Modi’s call, the movement for Sonar Bangla has begun again under the leadership of Adhikari.”
Referring to his three-day visit to the state, Shah said the Union and the State Government had held detailed discussions on governance and security. “We have discussed and taken several steps to stop infiltration, strengthen law and order and improve women’s safety,” he said.
Earlier, the Union home minister reviewed West Bengal’s law and order and border security system in a high-level meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and senior bureaucrats, including State Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal, Home Secretary Sanghamitra Ghosh, Director General of Police Siddh Nath Gupta, and IGP (CID) N R Babu.
