Kangana Ranaut says Sanskrit should be India's national language

As more celebrities come out with their choice of national language following the row kicked up by Ajay Devgn and Kiccha Sudeep, Kangana Ranaut has reacted to the row saying that if someone says they do not believe Hindi to be a national language, they are denying the constitution.

She was speaking at the trailer launch of her film Dhaakad, when she also expressed her choice of Sanskrit to be India's national language. She claimed that Sanskrit is older than all the languages including Tamil and Hindi.

"There is no direct answer to the question. India is a diverse country with multiple languages and cultures. Everybody has a birthright to take pride in their language and their culture. I am a Pahari, and I take pride in it,” she responded when quizzed by a journalist about the recent row.

The Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and the Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep were involved in a row on Twitter recently when the latter responded to the praise received by KGF Chapter 2 and the Kannada flick being termed a pan-India film, saying, "Hindi is no longer the national language."

Responding to this in Hindi, Devgn tweeted on Wednesday evening, “My brother, if according to you Hindi isn’t our national language, then why do you dub films in your mother tongue and release them in Hindi? Hindi was, is and will always be our mother tongue and national language. Jan Gan Man.”

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai came out in support of Sudeep saying “our states were formed because of languages”. He underscored the importance of regional languages.