Why speaking Hindi gives ‘shivers’ to FM Nirmala Sitharaman? Read here
1 min read 16 Sep 2022, 09:03 AM ISTUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday delivered a speech in 'Hindi' at an event organized by the Hindi Vivek Magazine.'I speak Hindi with a lot of 'sankoch' (hesitation), that's why the fluency in the language is affected,' Sitharaman said.
PremiumUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday delivered a speech in 'Hindi' at an event organized by the Hindi Vivek Magazine and said that speaking the Hindi language gives her 'shivers'. He referred to a previous speaker's announcement that her speech will be in Hindi.
"Addressing the audience in Hindi gives me shivers," said Sitharaman, explaining that she was born and attended college in Tamil Nadu which was in the midst of agitation against the Hindi language.
The minister said that students who opted either for Hindi or Sanskrit as their second language and stood on merit lists did not get scholarships by the state government because of their language preferences, according to the news agency PTI.
"It is difficult for a person to learn a new language after attaining adulthood, however, I picked up my husband's mother tongue Telugu. Perhaps due to past happenings, I could not take up Hindi," she said.
Sitharaman further said, "I speak Hindi with a lot of 'sankoch' (hesitation), that's why the fluency in the language is affected."
The finance minister, however, continued speaking in Hindi and finished the entire speech which lasted over 35 minutes in Hindi.
The statement came a day after the celebration of Hindi Diwas across the country to which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin opposed and said that the central government should celebrate ‘Indian Languages Day’ instead of ‘Hindi Diwas’, as per PTI reports.
Stalin said that India is known for its integrity, hence, there must not be any effort to divide the country in the name of ‘Hindia’.
In her Hindi speech yesterday, the finance minister talked about Indian economy claiming that no progress took place under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the country.
“Ten more years were wasted when the corrupt UPA government came to power in India. Its focus was personal gains, due to which, the country's interests were left behind," she added.
(With PTI inputs)
