NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that languages were not just a medium of communication, but the soul of the nation, further stating that it was necessary to keep languages alive and enrich them.

"As far as the country is concerned, language is not just a medium of communication; it is the soul of a nation. It is important to keep the languages alive and to enrich them. We should make all these efforts in the coming days for all Indian languages and especially for the official language," he said.

Speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Official Language Department in Delhi. Amit Shah said that Hindi was a friend of all the Indian languages, further stating that Hindi and Indian languages together could play an important role in enhancing the nation's self-esteem.

"I believe from my heart that Hindi cannot be the enemy of any Indian language. Hindi is a friend of all Indian languages , and Hindi and Indian languages together can take our self-esteem program to its ultimate goal. There is no opposition to any language; there should not be opposition to any foreign language, but the insistence should be to glorify our language, there should be an insistence to speak our language, and there should be an insistence to think in our language," he stated.

Shah also said that the country as a whole needs to get rid of the mentality of slavery.

"We should get rid of the mentality of slavery. And until a person takes pride in his language, does not express himself in his language, we cannot be free from the mentality of slavery..." he added.

The Minister highlighted the government's achievements in making sure students could give competitive examinations in multiple Indian languages.

"JEE, NEET, CUET are now being taken in 13 languages. Earlier, you could only apply for the constable recruitment of CAPF in English or Hindi. We made it flexible and allowed the exam in 13 languages, and today I am happy to say that 95% of the candidates are giving the constable exam in their mother tongue. This tells how bright the future of Indian languages is in the coming days..."