A state minister from Uttar Pradesh has said that those who do not speak Hindi will be assumed to be foreigners and "should leave this country and go elsewhere."
"Those who want to live in India should love Hindi," said Uttar Pradesh minister Sanjay Nishad. "If you do not love Hindi, it will be assumed that you are a foreigner or are linked to foreign powers."
Nishad is the founder of the Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal, commonly referred to as the NISHAD Party. He is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh. Currently, BJP is the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh.
"We respect regional languages, but this country is one, and India's Constitution says that India is 'Hindustan,' which means a place for Hindi speakers. Hindustan is not a place for those who don't speak Hindi", Nishad said.
Nishad made the remarks in response to a media query on the debate between Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep about the official status of Hindi.
Earlier this month, federal home minister Amit Shah said when citizens who speak different languages communicate with each other, "it should be in the language of India" – by which he meant Hindi.
His statement came under criticism from several opposition leaders and the state chief. Tamil Nadu state chief M.K. Stalin said Shah's Hindi push went against India's 'integrity and pluralism'.
Former Karnataka state chief and Congress leader Siddaramaiah said, "Hindi is not our national language, we will never let it be".
India does not have one national language, rather, it has Hindi and English as official languages used by the federal government. Additionally, the country has 22 scheduled languages used in different states and by its government.