If the people don’t understand the law because of the language in which it is written, how can that law help in their uplift? The language of the masses connects one to them, Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai said recently.
Speaking at an event organized by Ghaziabad Bar Association on the occasion of Hindi Diwas, which fell on September 14, Rai said that people can relate better to one’s thoughts when one speaks in their language. Unfortunately, the common man cannot understand the law which is made for their uplift.
Speaking on the development of Hindi, the Supreme Court Bar Association Vice President said:
“Development of Hindi is not just the responsibility of the government but also of citizens. Hindi can work as the connecting link that can bind the whole nation. Instead of dividing Hindi, we need to make it a binding force.”
Calling it unfortunate that we had let our Hindi divide us rather than bind us together, he said:
“Instead of calling (Mirza) Ghalib an Urdu shayar, it is better to call him a Hindustani shayar. Urdu is not an Arabic language, its script may be different but it is completely an Indian language. We are a society that embraces rather than divides. We believe in vasudhaiva kutumbakam.”
It is to be noted that Chief Justice N.V. Ramana had recently spoken of the need to Indianize the colonial legal system while speaking at an event to honour late Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, organized by the Karnataka State Bar Council. The CJI had said the colonial system was still out of bounds for people, especially those from rural areas.
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Speaking on ways to strengthen language, the Senior Advocate said the only way to add value to a language is to embrace words from different languages. Moreover, he added that we need to pay more respect to our writers, litterateurs. Calling Hindi literature appealing and charismatic with its roots in Sanskrit, he emphasised the need for authentic Hindi translation of prose written in different Indian languages.
Senior Advocate Pradeep Rai spoke of studying in Hindi but later learning English due to professional compulsions. He emphasised on the need to learn more than one language and letting the words from different languages enter the mother tongue.