Irony that Hindi is not used more in official work: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Although three-fourths of the Indian people know or speak Hindi, it is ironic that the language is not used more extensively in official work, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday as he pitched for its use regularly in government offices.

Addressing a function here to felicitate different ministries and departments, Singh said that it was an irony that even 67 years after the country's Independence, Hindi is not being used widely in government offices.

"Seventy-five percent of the people in the country either speak or know Hindi. But we do not use Hindi in official work. Now such a situation has come that we have to observe 'Hindi Divas'," he said.

Singh said that if such a scenario continues, there would be no future for Hindi and other Indian languages. "Such a situation will be very very unfortunate," he said.

The Home Minister said that non-Hindi speaking stalwarts of India's freedom movement like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhash Chandra Bose and C Rajagopalachari had advocated the promotion and expansion of Hindi.

Singh said that the 21st century is the century of Indian and Asian languages and all efforts must be made for their promotion.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that every ministry and department must work for the extensive use of Hindi in official work.