In a big victory for Indian diaspora living in the Gulf, Abu Dhabi has declared Hindi as the third official court language. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department on Saturday said it has extended the adoption of interactive forms of statement of claims filed before courts by including the Hindi language alongside Arabic and English.
The move is aimed to integrate the Indian community in UAE. According to official figures, currently, there are 2.6 million Indians living in UAE which constitutes around 30% of the total population. Yousef Saeed Al Abri, undersecretary of the ADJD said, “This is in addition to facilitating registration procedures to the public through simplified and easy forms and raising litigants’ legal awareness via interactive forms of the statements of claims, to ensure access to the legal materials related to the subject of the dispute.”
This is not the first Abu Dhabi has done something towards the welfare of the Indian community. The government of Abu Dhabi had earlier approved the plan for construction of the Hindu temple during PM Modi’s first visit to the country back in 2015. In recent developments, a legal entity has been registered with the local government for the construction which can now finally begin. The process of appointing consultants for the construction will begin within a month as it is a part of legal requirements to start the construction process. The construction and management of the temple will most likely be carried out under the Global Hindu religious and civic organization Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha better known as BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. The legal entity under the name Mandir Ltd., for the construction work to start, too has been registered by the organization to ensure smooth flow of the construction process.
Notably, the adoption of Hindi language by the Abu Dhabi government comes days after a prominent Congress leader and former Minister, Shashi Tharoor had called the Hindi language as divisive. Shashi Tharoor had stated that the Hindi language is dividing the country.
It is unfortunate when Indian culture and civilization is finally getting its due on the world stage, some Indian leaders are hell-bent on undermining this. The zeal of Nehruvian pseudo-secularism had undermined the Indian culture for 70 years and some people, particularly the Congress party, is still sticking to this even if it means insulting India.
It is, however, heartwarming to see that the Modi government’s relentless efforts to revive the Indian culture and civilization on the world stage are bearing fruit.