The BJP stands for the promotion of all Indian languages and the accusation that it promotes Hindi at the cost of regional languages is “politically motivated”, Home Minister Amit Shah has said. In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, Mr. Shah said the party would win an absolute majority in Karnataka, where issues of regional identity have featured in a big way in the election campaign. “This is an important election for the BJP, and we will form the government with a full majority in Karnataka,” Mr. Shah said.
Dismissing the allegation that the BJP and the Union government were trying to impose Hindi in the southern State, Mr. Shah said the Narendra Modi government had put in systems to conduct various recruitment tests in all languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Edited excerpts:
