Some leaders pointed to the economic value of learning English, while others recalled India’s linguistic diversity.

Some leaders pointed to the economic value of learning English, while others recalled India’s linguistic diversity.

FILE: Union home minister Amit Shah during the conference of the Relief Commissioners of states and Union territories and the Disaster Response Forces in Delhi on June 16, 2025. Photo: PTI/Kamal Kishore.

New Delhi: A number of opposition politicians on Friday (June 20) expressed criticism of Union home minister Amit Shah’s remarks that soon people would feel shame for speaking in English in India, saying that learning the language is economically useful and alleging that Shah was trying to undermine India’s linguistic pluralism.

Speaking at a book launch in Delhi, Shah on Thursday said that “the building of a society where those who speak English in this country will feel shame is not far away now”.

A “foreign language” cannot be used to understand “our country, its history, its traditions and our religions”, said Shah, adding to express hope that despite the difficulty in doing so, Indian society would “once again” run the country, think, conduct research and make decisions in “our languages”.

However, Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi said English is “as essential as your mother tongue because it will secure jobs [and] boost confidence”, advocating for cherishing Indian languages while teaching English.

He also alleged that the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh “don’t want India’s poor children to learn English because they don’t want you to ask questions, move forward or stand equal”.

K. Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP from the Tamil Nadu-based Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party that has resisted what it says is the ‘imposition’ of Hindi in the state, said that the “only thing [one] should be ashamed of” is “imposing your will on the people and trying to destroy the pluralism of India”, per a machine translation.

R. Bindu, education minister of neighbouring Kerala, alleged that Shah was trying to impose Hindi when he spoke against English.

The Hindu cited the Communist Party of India (Marxist) politician as saying that the home minister’s remarks reflected his “narrow politics” and, given that ‘learning as many languages as possible would enhance one’s knowledge’, would ‘narrow the global perspective of students’.

P. Sandosh Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP for Kerala and member of the Communist Party of India, was quoted as saying by PTI that Shah was trying to “stigmatise India’s linguistic diversity and push the RSS-BJP’s cultural majoritarianism”.

Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose, who represents West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha, said Indians “should not be “ashamed” of ANY language”.

“Preposterous nonsense from Shri [Amit Shah]. “English is a link language across India, [it’s] aspirational, confers a global advantage and knowledge of English is demanded by millions,” she wrote on X.

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