Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called upon the media to play the role of a bridge to bring people closer who speak different languages.
Addressing the Malayala Manorama News Conclave-2019 here through a video conference, Modi said “media can simply start with publishing one word in 10-12 different languages spoken across the country. In a year, a person can learn over 300 new words in different languages’, he said.
“Once a person learns another Indian language, he will come to know the common threads and truly appreciate the oneness in Indian culture. This can also give rise to groups of people interested to learn different languages,” the Prime Minister said.
“Imagine a group in Haryana learning Malayalam and a group in Karnataka learning Bengali ! All big distances were covered only after taking the first step, can we take the first step ?,” he asked.
But, the language has also been exploited by selfish interests to create artificial walls in the country to divide, Modi felt.
Pointing out that India has the most diverse and growing media, he said the number of newspapers, magazines, TV channels, websites are constantly rising.
Highlighting the positive role played by the media in various movements including Swachh Bharat, eliminating single use plastic, water conservation, Fit India, the Prime Minister said media have made these movements their own, and mobilised people to achieve remarkable causes.
He also said “for ages, language has always been a very powerful vehicle for the most popular ideas travelling across time and distance. India is perhaps the only country in the world with so many languages”, Modi reminded. (UNI)
