Shah visits IGNCA stall at Rajbhasha Vibhag’s 50th anniversary celebration

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated a grand event at Bharat Mandapam to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rajbhasha Vibhag of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The event witnessed the participation of nearly 8,000 officials, language scholars and Hindi enthusiasts from across the country.

In his address, Amit Shah said Hindi was steadily strengthening its position as a powerful medium for knowledge, science, commerce and governance by embracing the vocabulary of other Indian languages. Highlighting fresh initiatives to promote Indian languages, Shah said Rajbhasha Vibhag had created a dedicated translation wing and was developing a comprehensive multilingual dictionary titled ‘Shabd Sindhu’.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, vice-president of Parliamentary Hindi Language Committee Bhartrihari Mahtab, MP Sudhanshu Trivedi and author-philanthropist Sudha Murthy were among the prominent guests present on the occasion.

Various departments and organisations set up exhibition stalls to showcase innovative projects related to Hindi. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) drew considerable attention with a special display featuring four distinct exhibitions: rare ancient periodicals, early printed books, manuscripts spanning science, literature and art, and a compilation of the views of the constituent assembly on the adoption and promotion of Hindi. The first three exhibitions were presented digitally across three screens after extensive academic research by the IGNCA’s Rajbhasha and academic divisions. Visitors were also offered free copies of the booklet on the constituent assembly’s Hindi debates.

Shah spent around five minutes at the IGNCA stall and was briefed by Arun Bhardwaj about the centre’s Hindi research and projects. Prof. Bhardwaj also presented Shah with three books authored by IGNCA president Ram Bahadur Rai.

The IGNCA exhibition saw enthusiastic footfall, with around 1,200 visitors and 150 people recording their feedback and suggestions.

The Rajbhasha Vibhag’s golden jubilee celebrations underscored the government’s focus on strengthening Hindi and Indian languages as inclusive tools for nation-building and knowledge-sharing.