New Delhi: The demand for granting official language status to Bhojpuri, arguably the most widely spoken dialect in Bihar, has intensified with the Opposition Mahagathbandhan strongly supporting the move.
Senior leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation [CPI(ML) Liberation], all constituents of the Mahagathbandhan, have stated they will raise the issue in Parliament.
The longstanding demand has gained fresh impetus following the Union Cabinet's recent decision to accord classical language status to five more languages: Marathi, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit, and Assamese. The total number of languages with classical status now stands at 11, including Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia, which were recognised earlier.
CPI(ML) Liberation's Lok Sabha MP Sudama Prasad highlighted the widespread use of Bhojpuri. "The language is spoken widely in districts such as Bhojpur, Rohtas, Kaimur, Buxar, Saran, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, and Jehanabad in Bihar, and several parts of Jharkhand. Why is the Centre silent on the inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution?" he asked.
The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution currently lists 22 languages. Fourteen were initially included, with eight more added later. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs website, there are demands for the inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule, one of which is Bhojpuri.
"The Nitish Kumar government must send a detailed report to the central government seeking the granting of official language status to Bhojpuri. We will raise this issue in the coming session of Parliament," Prasad told a news agency in Patna.
RJD's Buxar MP Sudhakar Singh alleged that both the NDA government in Bihar and at the Centre are giving "step-motherly treatment" to Bhojpuri-speaking people. "We [Mahagathbandhan] demand immediate inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution so that it gets official language status. Earlier, we raised this issue in the state assembly, but the Nitish Kumar government has turned a deaf ear towards it," said the RJD MP.
Senior Congress leader and MLA Sanjay Kumar Tiwary, also known as Munna Tiwary, stated that this is one of the oldest demands of Bhojpuri-speaking people. "Scheduled status brings certain advantages to a language. It makes it mandatory for the government to take measures for the development of a scheduled language so that it grows and becomes an effective means of communication in due course of time," Tiwary said.
Responding to the Mahagathbandhan leaders' demand, Bihar Parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said that the demand for official language status must be backed with substantial facts. "No one can deny official language status to any language if the demand is based on substantial facts," Chaudhary added.
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