President Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday that India was trying to get Hindi the status of an official language of the United Nations.

He was speaking after conferring awards, on the occasion of ‘Hindi Divas,’ on individuals and government organisations for taking special efforts to promote Hindi.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said “Hindi was not getting its due respect” and some “so-called intellectuals continued to promote English.”

Though Tamil was considered the oldest Indian language after Sanskrit, Hindi had the widest reach and was therefore acknowledged as the eldest sister of all Indian languages.

He requested government servants to sign their files in Hindi.

The President said Hindi had achieved a number of milestones since Independence and was credited as being the vehicle of Indian thought and culture.

It was the factor that linked our traditional knowledge, ancient civilisation and modern progress, Mr. Mukherjee said.

“Our efforts should be to increase the use of Hindi in science and technology so that the participation of all, including the rural population, can be ensured in the progress of the country.”

The President said that literature pertaining to technical knowledge should be made available in Hindi and other Indian languages.

Mr. Singh said he had nothing against any language. But Hindi was the language that connected every part of the country. “ Demand to make Hindi our official language came first from non-Hindi speaking leaders like Bal Gangdadhar Tilak,” he said.