Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday (September 14, 2026) said cultural nationalism meant creating awareness about India’s culture and history, asserting the country’s diverse languages could have different voices but the national sentiment should remain one.
Mr. Addressing the 6th All India Rajbhasha Sammelan, Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Shah added.
The Minister said ‘Hindi Shabd Sindhu’, which began with 51,000 words, had now grown to eight lakh words and expressed confidence that it would become the world’s largest dictionary by 2029. Shah said more than 50,000 words from Indian regional languages had been incorporated into ‘Hindi Shabd Sindhu’ to fill gaps where Hindi lacked words.
“All political differences must be set aside to promote Indian languages,” Mr. Shah said while asserting that a child can understand the country only through his or her mother tongue. Shah linked the promotion of Indian languages to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge of freeing the country from a “mindset of slavery”. Shah said Bal Gangadhar Tilak had understood that awareness about the country’s culture and history could be created through cultural nationalism. “Tilak started public Ganesh festivities and celebrations of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s birth anniversary, both festivals eventually spreading beyond Maharashtra, helping create a wave of patriotism during the freedom struggle,” Mr. Shah said. He said the dictionary had accepted words from Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and Odia etc, thereby making Hindi more flexible. Shah said Maharashtra had the country’s most multilingual culture, with Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Sindhi, Hindi, Kannada and Warli among the languages spoken and developed here. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accorded Marathi the status of a classical language. Shah said Hindi should act as a means of communication and connection among India’s languages rather than competition. “Vinoba Bhave had said the use of Hindi had enabled him to take the message of the Bhoodan-Gramdan movement nationwide,” Mr.
The ‘Hindi Shabd Sindhu’ digital resource and training in Hindi typing and shorthand were also launched, while ‘Rajbhasha Kirti’ and ‘Rajbhasha Gaurav’ awards were presented. He invited elected representatives to communicate with the Centre in Marathi, assuring them arrangements were in place for translation. “Political differences must be set aside to promote Indian languages. A child can understand India only through the mother tongue,” Mr. Shah asserted. “The biggest work PM Modi has done is that, under NEP, he has made learning in mother tongue compulsory and also made learning another Indian language mandatory. Mr. ‘Leela Rajbhasha’ and ‘Leela Pravah’ had been developed as language-learning resources. Five of them would be dedicated during the Modi government’s tenure. Mr. Speaking on Vande Mataram, Mr. “Vande Mataram is not merely a song but an effort to awaken Indian consciousness to get freedom. Mr. “Mr. Citing Rabindranath Tagore, Mr. Shah compared Indian culture and literature to a many-petalled lotus, with each regional language forming a petal.
Shah said more than five lakh Central government employees had undergone language training, while AI-based ‘Kanthasth 2.0’ had been made available to foreigners with more than five crore sentences. Shah said the government had been taking the Rajbhasha conference to different states since 2019 instead of restricting it to Delhi. He said several publications were released during the day, including ‘Rajbhasha Bharati’ (Vande Mataram special issue) and ‘Vande Mataram Ke 150 Adhyay’. Shah said it took 80 years to restore full glory of the national song.
The Home Minister said his knowledge of Hindi had helped him work across the country when his party assigned him a national-level responsibility. He also said the Rajbhasha department had developed the multilingual translation tool ‘Bharati’, while the government had set up ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Anubhag’. “The Union government wants to make Indian languages the language of governance and science,” he said, adding that the aim is to enrich them through literature. “Candidates can appear for examinations such as IAS and IPS in their mother tongue, while JEE, NEET and undergraduate exam were being conducted in 13 languages,” he pointed out. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi made imparting of primary education in one’s mother tongue mandatory under National Education Policy (NEP),” Shah added. Those opposing NEP provision of learning one more Indian language apart from mother tongue do not know what sin they are committing,” he said. He said nine volumes had so far been prepared by Rajbhasha Committee. It laid the foundation of India’s cultural nationalism,” he said. “The song was later split and it took decades to restore it to glory,” Mr. Shah said referring to an old decision to just sing the first two stanzas at official events. “Vande Mataram regained its glory and began to be sung in full at all government functions because India got a prime minister like Narendra Modi,” he said. Shah said Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had treated ‘Swaraj’, ‘Swadharma’ and ‘Swabhasha’ as integral parts of self-rule and had accorded importance to Marathi in governance. Modi had consistently delivered speeches in Hindi or other Indian languages at major international forums,” Shah said. “Languages could remain many, but the sentiment should remain Indian and India’s voice should remain one,” the Union Minister asserted.
