NEW DELHI: Brothers and sisters, till now you heard all speakers talking in English. But I will speak in Hindi.” So said Rajnath Singh , home minister, at a United Nations event in Delhi on Thursday, and he proceeded to give a speech in chaste Hindi that wasn’t translated for the benefit of foreign officials in the audience.The home minister’s un-translated Hindi speech left foreign officials baffled, but home ministry officials saw nothing untoward. Their view? Foreign officials working in India are expected to understand Hindi.Singh was the star speaker at an event organised by the United Nations Population Fund-India ( UNFPA ) and Registrar General of India . The occasion was World Population Day. Hindi is the world’s fourth-most spoken language but unfamiliar to most of the world outside India.With the home minister’s long speech delivered without simultaneous translation or without an English version being made available for the audience, notable attendees like Frederika Meijer, UNFPA representative (India and Bhutan), and David Mcloughlin, deputy representative (programmes), UNICEF India, were left clueless — and they looked it.Meijer and Mcloughlin were on the dais and they both told ET the minister’s speech was incomprehensible to them. “What did he say?” Meijer asked. “I would request for a translated copy of the speech if possible,” Mcloughlin said. Some foreign delegates in the audience also said they didn’t understand what the minister had said.Singh’s boss, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has made it a point to speak in Hindi at most events, domestic or foreign. But translators are at hand when the PM speaks to a foreign leader or to a foreign audience. No such facility was available when the home minister decided to speak in Hindi at the UNFPA event. And his decision stood out in sharp contrast to other Indian speakers at the event.Singh’s junior minister, Kiren Rijiju and the home secretary, Anil Goswami, both spoke in English.India’s Registrar General, C Chandramouli, bowed to both sides of the language divide — he spoke first in Hindi and then repeated his speech in English after taking Singh’s permission. PM Modi himself spoke in both Hindi and English at ISRO’s PSLV-C23satellite launch on June 30.And the PM’s opening remarks at the BRICS summit in Brazil this week were in English.The home minister, however, decided Hindi must suffice, even though a large contingent of foreign UN officials was present among the audience. Singh quoted Swami Vivekananda and addressed the UNFPA representative as ‘Sushri’ Frederika Meijer.Home ministry officials vigorously defended their minister. Speaking to ET, a senior bureaucrat, who did not want to be identified, said the issue was “not at all that the minister cannot communicate in English” “He has made parliamentary statements in English”, the official said, “but speaking in Hindi is a matter of national pride for the minister…Hindi is his preferred language of communication”.When asked about foreign officials not following a speech in Hindi, the bureaucrat said UN and other foreign officials posted in India “should have familiarity with Hindi” “Do Chinese or French ministers speak in English at functions when Indian ministers or bureaucrats are present?” the bureaucrat asked.The Modi government’s preference for Hindi as the language of official communication has already created one controversy. The circular asking central government officials in Hindi-speaking states to post social media messages in Hindi had attracted strong critique from southern states.The report released after the event that saw the home minister speak in Hindi was in English, and the ministry press material put forward the minister’s views in English.