External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lashed out at each other at the Lok Sabha yesterday. The two politicians were arguing over making Hindi an official language at the United Nations. While Swaraj pushed for the change to be made, Tharoor questioned its importance.
As Tharoor asked why Swaraj felt the need to push this, Swaraj called his remark ignorant. Swaraj was quoted saying, “It is often asked why Hindi is not an official language in the UN. Today, I will want to tell the House, the biggest problem is the procedure.”
The Minister explained to make Hindi official at the UN it will require a majority of votes from the 193 member organization. It is estimated 129 of the UN members must agree on the language and share the financial expenditure.
Swaraj said, “The problem comes when apart from voting, the burden of the amount also falls on them. Economically weaker countries that support us shy away from this. We are working on it, we are making attempts to get support of countries like Fiji, Mauritius, Surinam…where people of Indian origin are there.”
She further added, “When we get that kind of support and they are also ready to bear the financial burden, it will become an official language.”
One of the members pointed out that making Hindi an official language would cost a whopping of Rs. 40 crore every year. To this Swaraj responded, “Not just Rs. 40 crore, the Government is ready to spend Rs. 400 crore on it.” She further explained money was not the biggest problem and stated that she and the Prime Minister spoke in Hindi at the UN.
Swaraj said, “Even when we have (foreign) guests, if they speak in English, we speak in English. If they speak in their own language, we speak in Hindi. As far as glory of the language is concerned, the External Affairs Ministry never had so much work done in Hindi as now.”
Tharoor has worked for the UN initially and retired after finishing second in the election for UN Secretary General in 2006. The Congress MP questioned the importance when Hindi is not even the national language of India.
Tharoor said, “Hindi is not the national language, it is an official language. Seeking to promote Hindi raises an important question. Why do we need an official language in the UN? Arabic does not have more speakers than Hindi, but Arabic is spoken by 22 countries, whereas Hindi is only used as an official language by one country – us.”
He pointed out, “The question is what purpose is being served by this. If indeed we have a Prime Minister or Foreign Minister who prefers to speak Hindi, they can do so and we can pay to get that speech to be translated. Why should we put our future foreign ministers and prime ministers who may be from Tamil Nadu in (such) a position.”
Tharoor stated, “The Government has to defend its position. I understand the pride of Hindi speaking people, but people of this Country who do not speak in Hindi also take pride in being Indian.” Many of the members of the treasury benches were not pleased with Tharoor’s statement and raised a protest.
Sushma Swaraj disregarded Tharoor’s concern and stated, “Saying Hindi is spoken only in India is your ignorance.” In a written response, the External Affairs Minister said India contacted 129 countries to discuss making Hindi an official language at the United Nations.
