Emphasising that diversity is the foundation of India's vibrant democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 22 September said the country's various languages are an important identity of its liberal and democratic society.
While saying that he is a common man who works on the orders of 130 crore people, PM Modi said, “When you ask me ‘howdy, Modi?’, I tell you India is doing great.” He then went on to repeat the same in several Indian languages.
The prime minister emphasised on the language diversity with his remarks, saying that India has progressed for centuries with dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects.
“Our various languages are an important identity of our liberal and democratic society. For centuries, our nation has been moving forward with dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects. Diversity is the foundation of our vibrant democracy.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Modi highlighted the importance of linguistic diversity at a time when Home Minister Amit Shah pitched for Hindi as a common language, which drew flak from Opposition parties.
However, Shah had later clarified that he never asked for imposition of Hindi over native languages in the country but advocated its use as the second language.
To highlight the linguistic diversity of India, Modi said "all is fine in India" in several Indian languages from Punjabi to Bengali to Tamil among others.
(With inputs from PTI)
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