New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today (Dec 20, 2003) said it was a major question as to why the nation has not been able to make Hindi an official language even after 56 years of Independence.

"It is a bitter truth that even now Hindi has not been able to achieve the desired position…What happened that we have not been able to make it an effective language of communication? Why have we failed in the endeavour?" Vajpayee asked.

Inaugurating a seminar on "Mahatma Gandhi and the role of Hindi in the National Movement" in New Delhi, he noted that the Mahatma had realised the importance of Hindi as a strong weapon in the freedom struggle.

"Hindi ki baat bahut hoti hai. Hindi me baat kam hoti hai (There is much talk about Hindi. But there is less talk in Hindi)," Vajpayee observed amid applause from the gathering, which included several prominent Hindi scholars, journalists and Gandhians.

The seminar was organised by the "Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti" to mark the centenary of the periodical "Indian Opinion", which the Mahatma had launched in Durban, South Africa. The organisers said it was their endeavour to take journalist Mahatma Gandhi and his vision to the present generation.

PTI