India's Home Minister Amit Shah recently said that those who speak English in the South Asian country would "soon feel ashamed."

He also urged people to speak their mother tongue with pride. "I believe that the languages of our country are the jewels of our culture. Without our languages, we cease to be truly Indian," he said.

He emphasized that India should lead globally through its own languages instead of using English.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has also been increasingly giving precedence to Hindi over English in official work.

Legal directives require Hindi in official communication, documentation, courts, and recruitment, especially in Hindi-speaking states, aiming to boost Hindi's role and reduce dependence on English.

The push to elevate Hindi, however, has been controversial — particularly in non-Hindi-speaking states.

Language is a touchy subject in the world's most populous country, where its 1.4 billion people speak a mosaic of over a hundred languages and thousands of dialects.

India does not have a single "national language." Instead, it now has 22 official languages. At the federal level, both Hindi and English are designated as official languages, while individual states have adopted one or more regional languages as their official languages.

The nation's internal, state boundaries are also drawn mostly along........

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