Itanagar, Sep 25 (Reporter) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Wednesday that Hindi has become a unifying force in Arunachal Pradesh, the only state in the Northeast where the language is spoken in every corner. The Chief Minister said this while attending the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Department of Hindi at Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), Rono Hills, Doimukh, near here. In a social media post, Khandu said, “The widespread use of Hindi in Arunachal has opened doors for many of our talented individuals in the entertainment industry, especially in Bollywood and Hindi singing reality shows on national television. Our command over the language has allowed Arunachalis to showcase our state's talent on the national stage. Strengthening our Hindi language skills will continue to unlock more opportunities for our people in diverse fields across India.” He further encouraged RGU to take an active role in refining and polishing the Hindi spoken by the people of Arunachal. “By enhancing it, we can further strengthen our connection with the rest of India and establish Arunachal as a significant centre for Hindi learning and promotion,” he said. The Chief Minister, meanwhile, assured a suitable plot of land for early establishment of a Kendriya Hindi Sansthan (Central Institute of Hindi) Regional Centre in Arunachal Pradesh to the Director of the Sansthan, Prof. Sunil Baburao Kulkarni. Addressing on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee celebration of the RGU’s Hindi Department, which was also attended by Prof. Kulkarni, Khandu informed that the state government’s proposal for the same has been accepted by the central government, and the onus is now on the state to donate sufficient and suitable land for the establishment of the institute’s regional centre. “Arunachal Pradesh is the only state in the North East that has adopted Hindi as its lingua franca. For enhancing the quality of the language, it is obvious that a regional centre of the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan is established here,” he said. It may be noted that the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, with its headquarters at Agra, runs eight regional centres, with three of them in the North East—Guwahati, Shillong, and Dimapur. “I promise to Prof. Kulkarni that the process for locating the plot of land will be started immediately,” Khandu assured. Congratulating the Hindi Department of RGU on completion of 25 years of its existence and churning out Hindi language scholars, Khandu said that students of the department have excelled in their fields like poetry, storytelling, novel writing, etc. “I have watched them go places, and I take pride in them,” he said. Underscoring the significance of Hindi as a language of the masses, he said that Hindi has been a deciding factor in India’s struggle for freedom. "Hindi, as the language of communication between various regions and communities, united the people to fight the British and gain independence,” he pointed out. In the context of Arunachal Pradesh, Khandu said that Hindi plays a pivotal role in uniting the diverse ethnic texture of the state. “Our Hindi may not be of the purest form, but it’s the sole medium of communication between different tribes and communities of the state. All other North-Eastern states have their one common language of communication except Arunachal. So, we developed our own Hindi and perfectly communicated with each other. The significance of Hindi as a language in Arunachal therefore gets bigger,” he said. The celebration was attended by RGU Vice Chancellor Prof. Saket Kushwaha and local MLA Nabam Vivek, among others...////...