New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS): As Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday interacted with students across the nation for over an hour, he made it a point to respond to each question in Hindi, though many of these questions were posed in English from students from non-Hindi speaking regions in the south and northeast of the country.

While students from Imphal in Manipur, Tinsukia in Assam, Leh in Ladakh, Thiruvanamalai in Tamil Nadu and even a few schools in Delhi put their questions to the prime minister in English, Modi invariably responded in Hindi, with a few English words thrown in.

The interactive session between Modi and students across the country was held at Manekshaw Centre in Delhi Cantt. after Modi addressed the students on Teachers' Day.

The message was simple: Hindi is to be the lingua franca of this nationalist government, and not English as before. Even during his recent visit to Japan, Modi conversed and spoke largely in Hindi, responding in English only to elaborate a point.

In his interactions with visiting foreign leaders, Modi prefers Hindi, unlike previous prime ministers who switched to English to converse with foreign leaders. World over, interpreters are always present in conversations between heads of state and government, especially those who are not conversant with English.