Sonu Nigam jumps into Hindi national language debate, says let’s not divide people further in the country

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, May 3

Singer Sonu Nigam has joined the Hindi national language debate. He says ‘nowhere in the constitution is written that Hindi is our national language’. The singer believes such conversations will bring divide in the country.

The singer's comments come days after Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kichcha Sudeep engaged in a Twitter spat over Hindi being a national language.

It all began some weeks back when Sudeep made a statement at a function in Bengaluru where the Kannada film industry was celebrating the success of ‘KGF: Chapter 2’ starring Yash. During the event when he was asked how he looked at the nationwide success of ‘KGF: Chapter 2’, Sudeep said, “Hindi is no more a national language.”

Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn reacted to Sudeep’s statement. He tweeted to Sudeep asking if Hindi was not the national language of India, why were movies in different language being dubbed in Hindi? Devgn had tweeted, "Hindi was, is, and will always be our national language". This remark led to a war of words between the two actors.

Now, Sonu Nigam has weighed in on the controversy. At an event in Mumbai, he said, “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.”

Highlighting the difference between the most-spoken and oldest language, Sonu questioned, “Are we aware that Tamil is the world's oldest language? There is a debate between Sanskrit and Tamil. But, people say Tamil is the oldest language in the entire world,” he told website Cinema Beast

Nigam, who has sung songs in several Indian languages, said such discussions will cause troubles within India. He said our country is already dealing with enough issues with the neighbouring countries. "Why are we doing this? Why is this discussion even happening? Let's not divide people further in the country, bohot jhamele already chal rahe hai. Abhi tumhaare baaki deshon se pange kam hain jo tum apne desh mein kar rahe ho?

The 48-year-singer concluded no one should be forced to speak a language. “Let people speak what they want to, why are you after them that only one language will be spoken in the country,” he said.

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