Madam, in the United Nations, there are six Official Languages and two Working Languages. Now, the six Official Languages are used for formal speeches and translations and the work is done in the two Official Languages, which are English and French. Similarly, in India, our Foreign Minister says Bharat ki Rajbhasha. Bharat has no Rajbhasha. Article 343 of the Constitution makes it very clear that Hindi is an Official Language.

The Official Languages Act of 1963 says that Hindi and English are both Official Languages of India and the Gujarat High Court ruled in 2010 that Hindi is not the National Language of India. So, for us to be spending Government resources in seeking to promote Hindi in this manner raises an important question.

Why do we need Official Languages the United Nations? It is because a number of countries speak them. Arabic does not have more speakers than Hindi. But Arabic is spoken as an Official Language by 22 countries whereas Hindi is only used as an Official Language by one country, which is our country. In Mauritius, Surinam and in some other countries, it is not the Official Language. Therefore, the question that comes up is, what purpose is being served by this.

 If, indeed, we have a Prime Minister or a Foreign Minister who prefer to speak Hindi, they can do so and we can pay for that speech to be translated. Why should we put our future Foreign Ministers and Prime Ministers who may be from Tamil Nadu or West Bengal in a position where they are condemned to be speaking a language for which we are paying?

The Government has to defend its position. I understand the pride of Hindi speakers in this country. But people in this country who do not speak Hindi also take pride in speaking other Indian languages.