Savarkar worked to enrich Hindi: Shah

Varanasi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday stressed the need for making Hindi flexible for its wider acceptance and cited the work done by V D Savarkar for enriching the language.

Addressing the All-India Rajbhasha conference here, Shah said a number of Hindi words may not have existed if Savarkar was not there and “we would have had to use the English words”.

“Veer Savarkar worked for ‘swabhasha’ (indigenous language) and ‘rajbhasha’ (official language). He made the ‘shabdkosh’ (glossary) of Hindi,” he said.

“There was no (Hindi) word for director, he coined the word ‘nirdeshak’. Similarly, he coined ‘kala nirdeshan’ for art direction. He worked to enrich Hindi,” Shah said.

“We have to make Hindi flexible if we have to make it acceptable,” he said, adding there should be no hesitation if words from languages of different states are included in Hindi.

“Once the medium of speaking, writing and thinking, becomes Hindi, then it will carve its own way. But, Hindi has to be made flexible,” Shah said.

He said English was imposed upon Indians as it was a foreign language.

“Hindi and indigenous languages have not to be imposed, but have to be made acceptable by our efforts,” he said.