'No, Hindi is not the National Language of India,' netizens school Venkaiah Naidu

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu kicked up a storm on Saturday when he called Hindi the National Language of India and the country's identity. Considering that the statement came at a time when non-Hindi speaking belts of the country are protesting Hindi imposition by the centre, Venkaiah Naidu received severe backlash for his statement.

'Hindi is our the National language. It is impossible to move ahead in India without Hindi. Our mother tongue is our identity and we should take pride in it,' the union minister said. An elected representative being ignorant of the language policy and declaring Hindi as India's National language created much outrage on social media.

Facts first

The Constitution of India does not assign National Language status on Hindi or for that matter, any other Indian languages. Hindi and English have been declared the official languages Under Article 343, meaning, Parliamentary business, according to the Constitution, may be conducted in either Hindi or English. The states, however, have the liberty and powers to specify their own



official language or languages through legislation. There are 22 officially recognised languages in India.

Nearly 60 percent of Indian citizens do not speak Hindi. The language is not the mother tongue of the majority of Indians. The notion of Hindi being the National Language is false. Neither the Constitution nor the courts have accorded Hindi any such status. Time and again courts have clarified that Hindi is not the National Language of India. Venkaiah Naidu claimed that Hindi was the National Language in Ahmedabad but incidentally, in 2010 the Gujarat High Court observed that though majority of people in India have assumed Hindi as a national language, 'there was nothing on record to suggest that any provision has been made or order issued declaring Hindi as a national language of the country.'

And this is how Twitter reacted to the Minister's National Language faux pas

Twitter was abuzz with criticism for Venkaiah Naidu's incorrect statement. It was not just non-Hindi speaking netizens who corrected the minister but also those from Hindi heartland.