Learn both mother tongue and Hindi: Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: I&B minister Venkaiah Naidu told ET that it was important to learn and respect one’s mother tongue and communicate in it so that the country’s regional languages thrived even at a time English was getting increasingly important.

He said his comments on Hindi were being misused by a section of the media. “Who is imposing Hindi? All I said was learn your language first, then learn Hindi. After that you can learn Russian and German too,” the minister said. “I will say 100 times that one must learn Hindi. Who is saying the Centre is imposing it? Has the Centre issued any notification? All that I said that we must respect our languages,” he said.

Clarifying his position on Hindi, the minister said it was important that people learnt their mother tongue and used it at homes. “I always request people to call their mothers Amma or Ma or ammi. These sounds come from the abdomen. There is a reason why we stress on using these words. Mummy on the other hand is English influence. It is open only through lips. It doesn’t come from inside.”

Naidu added the DMK was only using this as a political tool and creating a divide among people on the country by creating these issues. “I had also taken part in the anti -India agitation. But when I came to Delhi I realised what harm I had done. In many states, it is only Hindi that people speak. What is wrong is learning it?” he said.

Naidu had earlier said it is important to learn the “Rashtra Bhasha” (national language) Hindi as most people in the country speak this language. He had also stressed on the promotion of “Matrubhasha” (mother tongue) and said too much importance was attached to English in the country.