New Delhi: “Extend all Indian languages the equal reverence as we extend to our mother tongue and try to learn at least one Indian language other than the mother tongue,” said secretary of the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas Shri Atul Kothari while speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day national seminar held by Gandhi Bhavan, University of Delhi, in association with the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) on October 23. Topic of the seminar was “Gandhi’s Vision for National Language”. According to Prof Ramesh Bhardwaj, director of Gandhi Bhavan, the seminar was held as part of the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji. Director of the NCPUL Dr Aquil Ahmad was also present.
Shri Atul Kothari speaking at the seminar. Others on dais from left are Prof Ramesh C. Bhardwaj, Dr Aquil Ahmad, Shri Ram Bahadur Rai and Shri Prafulla Ketkar
Shri Atul Kothari further said Sardar Patel united India geographically and we have to unite it mentally generating the feeling of self-respect towards our languages. He said Gandhiji was not comfortable in speaking or writing Hindi, but he spoke and wrote in Indian languages only just to promote them. He used to discourage anyone trying to speak
in English.
Senior journalist and chairman of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) Shri Ram Bahadur Rai said Indian languages are the medium of carrying forward the values, samskars and the time tested traditions. Therefore, instead of English the countrymen must accept and promote their own languages. Recalling the contribution of Gandhiji in promotion of Indian languages, he said the question before all of us today is how we can revive the love to Indian languages including Hindi as was generated by Gandhiji. He said Hindi is not merely the language for contact all over the country but also it is suitable for the science and technology.
Organiser editor Shri Prafulla Ketkar said values and culture of the society reflect in the language of the society. “If we fail to respect the language of others, we should not expect them to learn our language. Youth today want to connect with their roots. It is our responsibility to provide them right direction and the options,” he said adding that Gandhiji was for development of the nation with the Indian vision and this is what we all need to do today.
Many eminent scholars including Prof Chand Kiran Saluja, Prof Gopeshwar Singh, Dr Ravi Tekchandani, Dr MH Sayed, Chief News Coordinator of Organiser Weekly Dr Pramod Kumar, etc shared their views on various issues during the seminar and presented papers on different topics.
