World Hindi Conference will become Hindi 'Mahakumbh' in the near future: EAM Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday expressed confidence that the World Hindi Conference will transform into a Hindi "Mahakumbh" in the near future and will provide an essential platform to those engaged in making it a world language.

Addressing the closing ceremony of the 12th World Hindi Conference here in Fiji, Jaishankar said that to achieve the goal of making Hindi a global language, all Hindi lovers must work together in synergy.

More than a thousand Hindi scholars and writers from around 30 countries participated in the three-day conference in Nadi from Feb 15-17. The conference was organised in collaboration with the Government of Fiji.

Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister, Biman Prasad, also present at the closing ceremony, described the conference as historic for the South-Pacific island nation and said that the government led by Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is taking all possible steps to strengthen Hindi in the country, including Hindi being allowed to deliver speeches in Hindi in the Fijian Parliament.

Hitting out at his political opponents, Prasad, in his remarks in Hindi, said that in the past 10-15 years, efforts were made to weaken the language in the archipelago.

Jaishankar, referring to discussions with the Fijian leadership on Wednesday, said that he assured Rabuka that India would take steps to further strengthen cultural ties with Fiji.

"The World Hindi Conference will become the 'Mahakumbh' of Hindi in the near future," Jaishankar said, implying that it will attract more Hindi lovers across the globe.

"Honoured to participate in the valedictory function of the 12th World Hindi Conference held in Fiji. Thank you for joining Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad ji. The 3-day conference clearly reflected the strong cultural and historical ties between Fiji and India," Jaishankar tweeted.

"During the ceremony, more than 900 scholars and Hindi lovers from all over the world had a positive discussion on various important aspects of wide publicity of Hindi. Such events are also strengthening the expansion of other Indian languages," he tweeted along with pictures.

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The minister also revealed that the Fijian Prime Minister's favourite film is the hugely popular Bollywood film of the 70s, 'Sholay', which he used as a comparison for the friendship between the two countries.

Jaishshankar added that Rabuka especially likes the song in the movie Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Todenge.

At the closing ceremony, 25 scholars and organisations working for the promotion, dissemination and development of Hindi globally were also honoured.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said that during the conference, serious discussions were held in 10 sessions on various issues where it was concluded that Hindi is a powerful language capable of adjusting to technology.

The main theme of the Conference was "Hindi: From Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence”. Ten other academic sessions were held on diverse sub-themes.

The representatives present at the conference were of the unanimous view that the introduction of Indian knowledge and traditional systems to the world with the use of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) through Hindi could make them reach a larger audience, a report issued at the end of the conference said.

It said that Hindi could play an essential role in providing an alternative vision based on cooperation, inclusion and co-existence to a world system based on competition.

It also said that the conference emphasised the need to increase Hindi usage at the international level and to effectively use modern methods and resources in teaching the language.

The Opening Ceremony saw the release of a commemorative postal stamp by the Government of Fiji. A special Samarika and five other publications were also released on the occasion, the Ministry of External Affairs said.