Language row: Sonu Nigam says country already facing problems, let’s not divide people further

Mumbai: Singer Sonu Nigam has come down heavily on the recent language row which was sparked after a Twitter showdown between Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada superstar Kiccha Sudeep.

The singer has said that it is not correct to put an imposition on anyone especially in terms of languages.

The National Award-winning singer was speaking at the FICCI Flo event, where he said that it’s pointless to engage in such debates and add fuel to the fire as people are already getting divided on multiple lines across the country and this will seriously dent the integrity of our nation and make the society weak.

FICCI Flo is the women’s wing of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), which is an India-based non-governmental trade association and advocacy group.

He mentioned that from what he knows (having spoken with experts in the field), the Constitution of India, the document which binds the country’s law and order, does not recognise Hindi as the state’s national language, “Nowhere in the Constitution is it written that Hindi is our national language. It might be the most spoken language, but not the national language.”

He went on to state that although debatable, Tamil is the oldest language in the world, “In fact, Tamil is the oldest language. There is a debate between Sanskrit and Tamil. But, people say Tamil is the oldest language in the entire world.”

Nigam that country is already reeling with enough issues that need to be resolved with other nations and initiating a new problem within the country will only add to the troubles that the people are already plagued with.

He asked, “‘Abhi tumhaare baaki deshon se pange kam hain jo tum apne desh mein kar rahe ho? (Aren’t we facing enough issues with other countries that we are starting one within our own?) Why is this discussion even happening?”

Earlier, Ajay Devgn publicly replied to Kannada superstar Kiccha Sudeep’s opinion on Hindi not being the national language of India triggering a huge debate surrounding Hindi as the national language of India.

The ‘Singham’ actor took to his Twitter and tagged Sudeep as he tweeted, “Brother, if Hindi is not our national language according to you, then why do you release films made in your mother tongue dubbed in Hindi? Hindi is our mother tongue, and our national language, and it will always be. Jana Gana Mana.”

(IANS)