What's in a word? Indian politicians respond

On International Mother Language Day, a compilation of our leaders brandishing the language of politics....

Transcript

00:00This country will have to answer this question.

00:05I can answer the question, but how can I answer the question?

00:10These are the kind of leaders who ask for an answer.

00:14This has become a bit puzzled by the government's answer.

00:17Ask in Hindi. You can't speak Hindi.

00:21Okay, ask. Come on.

00:23In the United Nations, there are six official languages and two working languages.

00:28Now, the six official languages are used for formal speeches and translations.

00:32The work is done in the two official languages, which are English and French.

00:36Similarly, in India, our foreign minister said Bharat ki Rajbhasha.

00:40Bharat has no Rajbhasha.

00:42The Constitution, Article 343, makes it very clear Hindi is an official language.

00:46The Official Languages Act of 1963 says that Hindi and English are both official languages of India.

00:53And the Gujarat High Court ruled in 2010 that Hindi is not the national language of India.

00:58And the Atmanirbar, it's very difficult.

01:04See, that is the problem. You see, you don't understand that we speak different languages.

01:11Either it can be in English or you can have it in regional languages so all of us can say it.

01:17Big names are Tripu Sultan, Krishna Narayana, Vishwa Raya.

01:33And do one small thing together.

01:36In that 15 minute speech, at least five times, mention Vishwa Raya's name five times.

01:51No, he can read Hindi very well.

01:53He can't read Urdu. He can read it by looking at the teleprompter.

01:57He can read the language written in the teleprompter in Gujarati.

02:01Most of us in the South learn Hindi as a second language.

02:05But nobody in the North is learning Malayalam or Tamil or Kannada.