Hindi's importance to increase with India's prosperity: Modi

The PM held that the popularity of language was linked with financial might of any country

Holding that popularity of language was linked with financial might of any country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that importance of Hindi was set to increase with India marching rapidly towards economic prosperity.

In an address to Indologists, Hindi language students and Indian community members here, Modi also referred to growing conflicts and said he liked Uzbek President Islam Karimov's view that music could be the best means to stay away from violence.

Talking about ties between India and Uzbekistan, Modi said people-to-people contact was foundation for relations between any countries where language and culture also play important role.

Modi also released the first Uzbek-Hindi dictionary along with his Uzbek counterpart and Indologist Rakhmatov.

"Those (countries) whose economy is strong, wings of their language grow faster as people want to learn their language," the Prime Minister said.

In this context, he said importance of Hindi language was going to increase as India was on course of economic advancement.

"A language imbibes the feel of the era and tradition through which it travels. Languages have big heart..Language is key to the development of personality," said Modi, elaborating on the beauty of languages.

Noting that Uzbek radio completed 50 years of Hindi broadcasting in 2012, Modi said that Indian movies and music are very popular in Uzbekistan.

"Indian movies, language & music are very popular in Uzbekistan. In 2012, Uzbek radio completed 50 years of Hindi broadcasting," he tweeted.

Prime Minister Modi yesterday held extensive talks with Karimov as the two leaders decided to boost ties in key areas of atomic energy, defence and trade.

Modi and Karimov also discussed ways to enhance strategic, economic and energy ties apart from reviewing key regional issues including the situation in war-torn Afghanistan.