Hindi is the most spoken language of India. Almost 77 per cent of Indians read, write, speak and understand Hindi and have it as an integral part of their lives. The country celebrates September 14 as Hindi Diwas. The first Hindi Diwas was officially celebrated on September 14, 1953, and ever since then, the country celebrates Hindi Diwas every year on this date. The country also celebrates Hindi Week beginning from September 14 every year. Many educational institutions and offices organize competitions and events in Hindi. The primary objective behind the celebration of Hindi Week is to enhance the reach of Hindi among people and highlight the importance of its presence in our country and lives as the use of English is overtaking that of Hindi to a large extent.
But how many of us have ever wondered why this particular day for celebrating the language in India? Read on to find out the history behind the date September 14 was chosen for the celebration of Hindi Diwas in India.
India celebrates Hindi Diwas every year on September 14 DolphinPost
There are hundreds of languages spoken in India and when the country won its freedom, one of the biggest questions it faced was that of language. The Constitution Assembly, that was responsible for preparing the Constitution of India was set up on December 6, 1946. On September 14, the assembly unanimously decided to have Hindi as the official language of India. The decision was arrived at after a lot of discussions. A number of non-Hindi speaking states objected to the institution of Hindi as the official language and then the constituent assembly had to give English the status of official language, too.
Also, non-acceptance of Hindi as the only official language of the country by a number of regions, especially the southern and north-eastern part of the country was the reason that Hindi wasn’t announced as the National Language of India. And hence, in its Article 351, the Constitution of India bestowed the responsibility to spread and promote Hindi language to the union government of the country.