'Hindi Is Not National Language...': R Ashwin Stirs Controversy During Graduation Ceremony At Private Engineering College; Video

Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin recently stirred a language controversy during his visit to a graduation ceremony at a private engineering college in Chennai. During his speech, Ashwin remarked that "Hindi is not a national language," clarifying that it is an official language.

As Ashwin took the dais to speak, he confirmed how many of the attendees were those understanding English, Tamil, and Hindi.

“English students in the house..give me a yay. Tamil (students cheer loudly)…okay..Hindi (very little noise from the crowd).. I wanted to say Hindi is an official language and not the national language," Ashwin said.

The Constitution of India terms Hindi as an official language. September 14 is observed as Hindi Diwas to commemorate the Constituent Assembly of the country giving Hindi the status of official language of the Union government. Over the years, there have been efforts to promote Hindi as a unifying language which has not been appreciated, particularly from non-Hindi-speaking states like Tamil Nadu.

R Ashwin's international career

The 38-year-old brought the curtain down on his 14-year-long career in which he took 765 international wickets across all three formats of the game. He is regarded as the best-ever spinner to have played for India. Ashwin is currently the seventh-highest Test wicket-taker of all time. Not just that, he also has six hundreds to his name in the longest format.

In the limited-overs format, being part of the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy-winning teams would count among the major highlights of his 14-year career. Ashwin played 116 ODIs for India, claiming 156 wickets, while his 65 T20 International outings yielded 72 scalps. His career began in 2010 in the one-day format before he made his Test debut a year later.