Why use Hindi at UN?

Why do you oppose Hindi? A panelist asked Shashi Tharoor during one of his many sessions at the Jaipur Literature Festival. “I have only said that when Sushmaji told Parliament that she is ready to spend crores of rupees to make Hindi official language at the UN.

“I just asked why it was needed. When Modiji or Sushmiji want to send a message to the world through the UN, it will be better if they speak in English. You can talk in Hindi in the Lok Sabha, but why at the UN. We are a multilingual state.

Even though many know Hindi, thanks to the internet, to say that Hindi is a language of India then that is not true,” he says. However, he avers that it is important to know Hindi to be a Prime Minister of India. Speaking about his book - ‘Why I am a Hindu’ - during a press conference, he denies the accusation that he or Congress or Rahul Gandhi is resorting to Hindutva in order to gear up for the upcoming elections.

“I bring Hinduism through the words of the great people like Vivekananda and Adi Sankaracharya and explain the true essence of the religion. Hinduism cannot be claimed by a few from the BJP. They cannot say they are true Hindus and hence everyone must vote for them.

Many Congress leaders practise Hinduism and believe that religions are just different paths to the same God. Hindutva has become dominant because a party has decided to make it an issue and are distorting the idea of Hinduism, he added.

By Rajeshwari Kalyanam