Love for language contributes greatly towards keeping people of the country united, according to Union Minister Farooq Abdullah.
"We should love and keep alive all our languages. Otherwise, we cannot unite India," Abdullah said at the World Book Fair here today where he launched eight books in Kashmiri for children.
"India is not together because of air force, army or navy but because of feelings and connection among people," he said.
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Recalling his student years abroad, the Minister for New and Renewable Energy said he always "appreciated Malayalis, Tamils and Bengalis who used to speak in their mother tongue."
"I used to stay in hostel when I was studying abroad and I would see two fellow Bengalis always interacting with each other in their language and not in English. The same was for south Indians too," he said.
Contrary to this, he said people from Kashmir have not been able to "strengthen their language" and he even said there have been "attempts to suppress the language."
"There have been attempts to suppress the Kashmiri language. Very few people fought to revive it," Abdullah said.
The Minister pointed out that Jammu and Kashmir is a state with varied identities and culture and home to rich literature.
"Kashmiri literature is very rich and few people are aware of its many identities and culture," he said.
Among the books he released are "Humijaan Sund Khwab", "Ghashun Chitti Pompur", "Vwazaj Raantas" and five other books translated into Kashmiri exclusively for children.
The books have been published by the National Book Trust.
"Am glad that NBT has come up with eight Kashmiri books. Kashmiri language will grow and will keep bringing stories," he said.
