Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu surprises Twitter users with Urdu message

Hyderabad: Those who follow Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Twitter were surprised to find him posting in Urdu on his official handle. Very few know that Mr Naidu is familiar with a dozen of Indian languages.

Mr Naidu spoke in 10 languages in the Rajya Sabha on June 18  —  Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam,  Marathi, Gujarati,  Punjabi,  Bangla, Oriya and Nepali,  — to inform MPs that  they could avail of simultaneous interpretation in the 22 Indian languages mentioned in the Constitution.

Mr Naidu on Saturday attended the graduation ceremony of the Muffakham Jah College of Engineering in Hyderabad. After the event he posted on Twitter in Urdu script: “Aaj Hyderabad mein Muffakham Jah College of Engineering ke kamyaab graduation day mein shirkat karke masarrat huvi — Talaba unke walidain aur asataza ku mubarkbad. Un ke liye yeh eik aisa mouqa jise woh hamesha yaad rakhenge. (Pleased to attend the graduation day ceremony of Mufakham Jah College of Engineering. Congrat-ulations to students, their parents and teachers. This is an event they will remember forever.)

Dr Abid Moiz, a humour and science writer in Urdu, appreciated the move and said it was a good sign. “This gesture will uphold the importance of Urdu language. It is evident that Urdu is not a language of only Muslims,” he said.