Talk with friends, family in your native language: Amit Shah to youths

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday appealed to the youths of the country to speak in their own language while communicating with friends and family and said a country's culture is safe only when its languages are safe.

Shah also said India is only country in the world which is united by its culture. He said the country has many languages and dialects, 7-8 languages in just one state, around 150 dialects in the Northeast, and "these languages and dialects are the identity of our country".

"Whenever you talk with your friends, family or parents, talk in your own language. Because it is very important to keep alive your own language," he said, addressing an event on "Nationalism In Times of Strife" at the Zee Aarth Festival here.

The home minister said it is very necessary to save the languages because "if a language is saved, its music is saved and its history is saved".

"If a language is saved, its culture is saved, its way of life is saved," he said. Shah said he met many foreigners during his long political career who had no knowledge what was their original language.

"After 50 years we should not face a similar kind of situation," he said.

The home minister said India is the only country in the world whose culture is intact even after thousands of years and it is everyone's responsibility to carry it forward.

Shah said every country in the world is known by its boundary, geography and political system - be it Europe or America.

"Their identity is their geography and political system. India is the world's only country which is not a geo-political country but a geo-cultural country. It is our culture which is binding all of us together," he said.

The home minister said people of India never considered any one as outsider.

"Despite so many attacks on our country and being enslaved for so long, we could save our identity and our culture," he said.