Rahul Gandhi's tweet was liked over 17,000 times

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi put out a tweet on Monday against Home Minister Amit Shah's pitch for having Hindi as a common language across the country.

Stating 23 of the many languages spoken in the country with the national flag emojis following each, the former Congress chief tweeted "India's many languages are not her weakness."

Mr Gandhi joins many other politicians who spoke out against Amit Shah's appeal to make Hindi the national language of India as it is spoken the most. Currently, Hindi and English are the official languages of the centre.

Rahul Gandhi's tweet was liked over 17,000 times.

????????Oriya ???????? Marathi

???????? Kannada ????????Hindi ????????Tamil

????????English ????????Gujarati

????????Bengali ????????Urdu ????????Punjabi ???????? Konkani ????????Malayalam

????????Telugu ????????Assamese

????????Bodo ????????Dogri ????????Maithili ????????Nepali ????????Sanskrit

????????Kashmiri ????????Sindhi

????????Santhali ????????Manipuri...



India's many languages are not her weakness. - Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 16, 2019

Earlier, the Congress too had opposed the BJP chief's pitch saying no indication should be given of a rethink on the "three-language formula" as it will create strife and unrest in the country.

The three languages formula is commonly understood to comprise Hindi, English and the regional language of the respective states.

On Monday, actor-politician Kamal Haasan joined Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and DMK chief MK Stalin in weighing in on Amit Shah's statements on Hindi become a unifying language.

In a video posted on his Twitter account, the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief asked the centre not to renege on promises made to states when India was made a republic and warned the Narendra Modi government of a language war that "India or Tamil Nadu doesn't need or deserve".

The Home Minister's statement has been seen by many as an attempt by the centre to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states.

Even Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa -- the tallest BJP leader in the south -- said a firm "no" to Amit Shah's push for Hindi.

As the country marked Hindi Diwas on Saturday, Mr Shah had tweeted suggesting a wider use of Hindi as a common language.

"India is a country of many different languages, and each language has its own significance, but it is necessary to have a common language that becomes the mark of India's identity globally... Today, if there is one language that has the ability to string the nation together in unity, it is the Hindi language which is the most widely-spoken and understood language in India," his tweet read.