‘Hindustan Doesn’t Mean Land of Hindi’: Sadhguru’s Retort to Nitish Kumar’s ‘National Language’ Jibe

Responding to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “Hindi is our national language” remark at a meeting of Opposition alliance INDIA, Sadhguru, founder and head of the Isha Foundation, said that “Hindustan means the land that lies between the Himalayas and Indu Sagara or the land of Hindus not the land of Hindi language”.

In his post on X, Sadhguru further wrote: “Linguistic division of states was done with the wisdom that all languages in the country will have same status even though there may be big differences in the populations that speak them. Respectfully request you to avoid such banal statements as there are many states with their own language, literature and culture associated with it.”

Kumar is learnt to have lost his cool during the alliance meeting last evening when representatives of southern ally DMK asked for a translation of his speech which was delivered in Hindi.

At the meeting last evening, when Kumar was delivering his speech, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) senior leader TR Baalu was reportedly unable to comprehend what was being said and signalled to Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj K Jha for a translation.

To help Baalu, when Jha sought permission from Nitish Kumar, the Bihar CM lost his temper and said, “We call our country Hindustan and Hindi is our national language. We should know the language.”

Kumar then asked Manoj Jha not to translate his speech and went on to say that Britishers were thrown away from India long back and Indians should also shun the colonial hangover.