Singer Sonu Nigam on language row: ‘Let’s not divide people more’

Playback singer Sonu Nigam said it was wrong to impose Hindi on people.

Singer Sonu Nigam has spoken out against Hindi imposition, amid a renewed debate on the subject, courtesy of a recent exchange between Bollywood star Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep.

During an interview with Sushant Mehta of Beast Studios, Sonu Nigam, one of India's best-known singers, spoke about the need to avoid creating more tensions in an already polarised atmosphere.

Perfect response to Ajay Devgn by Sonu Nigam: Let's not divide people further in this country, where is it written that Hindi is our national language? pic.twitter.com/hC9nHbXJHy

— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) May 2, 2022

“Let’s not divide people more," he said. "Already, there is a lot going on. You have tensions with others countries. Why create tensions within your own country? You are creating enemies in your own home."

The singer added that he had spoken several experts about language. "As per my knowledge, nowhere in the Constitution is it written that Hindi is the national language of India," he said. "Hindi is the most spoken language in the country, I understand that. Having said that are we aware that Tamil is world's oldest language?"

Nigam said it is wrong to impose Hindi on people and claim superiority.

“Let Tamilians speak Tamil, Punjabis talk in Punjabi. It is wrong to ask people to speak your language. How will they learn? They are not proficient in Hindi."

The renewed talk about Hindi imposition began last week with a tweet from Kannada actor Kicha Sudeep.

"Everyone says that a Kannada film was made on a pan-India level but a small correction is that Hindi is not a national language anymore," Sudeep had said while talking about the success of KGF 2.

But Ajay Devgn insisted that it was other way round. "Hindi was, is and always will be our mother tongue and national language. Jan Gan Man."

Many people slammed Devgn, pointing out to him that Hindi is just one of India's many official languages. Other reminded him that India's national anthem itself was written in Bengali by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Read: Kiccha Sudeep says 'Hindi is not our national language', Ajay Devgn's counter is viral