Morung Express News
Kohima | March 27
In defence of Minister Temjen Imna Along using Hindi in his speech at the NLA session recently, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has stated, “Whether you like it or not, for me we should appreciate culture and languages. Hindi is a national language, it is not wrong.”
Rio said that the Minister of Higher Education and Technical Education “spoke in fluent and eloquent Hindi for the first time in this August House.”
If the legislators want translation, the CM stated, it can be translated and circulated among the other members in due course of time.
“I feel that we should respect culture and language. We should not oppose or be threatened by the use of any languages which is rich and also which is a national language. In fact we should promote more languages among our youth so that we can adapt at different scenarios and also face the challenges and realities,” he opined.
“We have been promoting Hindi in our schools and colleges and there was never any opposition and why only today?” questioned Rio, who also assured that the government will never compromise on the preservation and protection of our culture and heritage. Rio maintained that to succeed in the ‘new environment of global village’ one can no longer live in isolation.
“The world has become one interdependent society. Change is inevitable. We should not be discomfort by change,” stated the CM while concluding the discussion on the budget speech.
