On the World Hindi Day, it will be interesting to know that former Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh cannot read Hindi. All the speeches he had given in Hindi were written in Urdu so that he could read them. Although he could speak Hindi, he did not learn how to read it. If any speech was in Hindi, he needed time to practice it. There are reports that the first speech he gave in Hindi needed three days of practice.
In numerous videos of his speeches where he was speaking in Hindi, once can notice that the speech was in fact written in Urdu so that he can read it.
At around 17 minutes 58 seconds in above video one can see that his speech is indeed written in Urdu.
Dr Singh was proficient in Urdu and hence his speeches in Hindi were written in Urdu script.
Ex-PM was born in undivided India, now in Pakistan
Born in 1936, the birthplace of Dr. Manmohan Singh is Gah, Punjab which is now located in Pakistan. He lost his mother at a very young age and was raised by his grandmother. The first twelve years of his life his village had no electricity. He studied under the light of a lamp.
At age 14, Singh’s family migrated to India after the partition and lived in Amritsar.
During his tenure as the Prime Minister, there were reports that Gah was being used as a part of diplomacy with India by Pakistan’s government. Singh had shown the desire to visit his birthplace but the trip could not be materialized during his tenure amidst tensions between India and Pakistan.