Hindi is not our national language, says cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin

CHENNAI: Weeks after quitting international cricket after spending 14 long years sharing the dressing room with players who mostly spoke English and Hindi, ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said Hindi was not officially the national language of India.

Ashwin said this while attending the 23rd Graduation Day of Rajalakshmi Engineering College in Kancheepuram on Thursday, where he was a special guest.

Before beginning his address, Ashwin asked the gathering in which language he should speak. When he gave them English as a choice, it was welcomed with applause. The reception was louder when he gave Tamil as an option, while the audience was largely quiet when he asked whether he should speak in Hindi.

“I thought I should say it: Hindi is not our national language; it is an official language,” he said, which received enthusiastic applause from the graduands. After that, he continued the address in English and Tamil.

Incidentally, Ashwin’s comment on Hindi, which is being interpreted in multiple ways, came on a day when former India and Bengal cricketer and the present Sports Minister of West Bengal Manoj Tiwari said Ashwin announced his retirement abruptly because he was insulted by the team management.

A similar statement was made by former Australian cricketer Brad Haddin, who said Ashwin seems to have retired midway through the Border Gavaskar Trophy Test series because he was unhappy about not being considered as the number one option as spinner.

Interestingly, both Tiwari and Haddin opined that Ashwin would come out and speak his mind on the matter.