Navi Mumbai, Sept. 15 -- Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday mounted a defence of the Centre's language policy, pitching Hindi as a bridge between India's diverse linguistic communities while taking a jibe over an alleged 80-year delay in restoring Vande Mataram to its "full glory". Speaking at the inauguration of Hindi Diwas 2026 and the sixth All India Rajbhasha Sammelan at the CIDCO Exhibition and Convention Centre in Vashi, he said the growth of Hindi should not come at the expense of regional languages. "While respecting these rich languages, let us make Hindi the medium that brings them together," he said, describing Indian languages as "beautiful like different petals of a lotus". Shah said the decision to take the Rajbhasha Sammelan beyond Delhi and hold it in different states had succeeded, with Maharashtra hosting its sixth edition. Defending the National Education Policy, Shah said it emphasised education in the mother tongue while requiring students to learn another Indian language. The aim, he said, was to help Indians understand each other's languages and cultures, not impose Hindi. Those opposing the provision, he said, were committing a "sin". "Mother tongue is the foundation of human thought," Shah said. He appealed for political differences to be set aside in promoting Indian languages. Shah then turned to Vande Mataram, whose 150-year journey is being marked at the conference. "Vande Mataram was not merely a song; it became the national call of the freedom struggle," Shah said. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with reviving the practice of singing the complete version of Vande Mataram at government events and highlighted the Centre's decision to accord Marathi classical-language status. He recalled Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Rajvyavahar Kosh and Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak's role in giving Ganeshotsav and Shivaji Jayanti a mass public character. Under Modi's leadership, Shah said, over 500,000 central government employees were trained in Hindi, while AI-based Kanthasth 2.0 contained over 50 million sentences. LILA Rajbhasha and LILA Pravah were also being used to accelerate language learning. The Hindi Shabdsindhu dictionary has expanded from 51,000 words to around 800,000 and is expected to become the world's largest by 2029, Shah said. C-DAC's Bharatiya Bahubhashik Anuvad Sarathi multilingual translation app and Bhashakunj language data centre were also launched. CM Devendra Fadnavis stressed that linguistic pride need not give way to rivalry. "My mother tongue is Marathi, but all other languages of the country are like my aunts. While honouring one's mother, the aunt must also be given complete respect." Deputy CM Eknath Shinde described Hindi as a "friend" of Indian languages and said holding the conference in the state was an honour for Marathi....