Why NDA silent over demand for official language status to Bhojpuri, asks CPI(ML) Liberation

Patna: The CPI(ML) Liberation, an alliance partner of the 'Mahagathbandhan' in Bihar, on Wednesday asked why the BJP-led NDA leaders are maintaining silence over the demand for inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution so that it can be accorded the status of an official language.

Notably, the majority of voters in Arrah and Karakat Lok Sabha constituencies, where CPI (M-L) Liberation candidates are contesting, are Bhojpuri-speaking.

“Bhojpur is a popular language and is deeply rooted in the soil of Bhojpur, Rohtas, Kaimur, Buxar, Saran, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Jehanabad of Bihar and several parts of Jharkhand. We demand Bhojpuri be immediately accorded official language status,' CPI (ML) Liberation’s general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya told PTI. The NDA government in Bihar is also silent over the issue, he claimed.

'During the election campaign, neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah nor JD(U) supremo and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are uttering even a single word about granting official language status to Bhojpuri. This is sheer injustice to the Bhojpuri-speaking electors”, Bhattacharya said.

He asserted that voters in the Bhojpuri-speaking belt in Bihar will 'punish BJP and NDA leaders for not granting official language status to Bhojpuri'.

CPI (ML) Liberation candidates from Arrah and Karakat Lok Sabha seats and party workers in other parliamentary constituencies are raising the demand during the poll campaign, he said.

Its Dumron MLA Ajit Kumar Singh said the party demands immediate inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution so that it gets official language status.

'I have been raising this issue in the assembly, but the Nitish Kumar government has turned its deaf ear towards our demand. This issue is emotionally attached to the Bhojpuri-speaking people,' the legislator told PTI.

He also said, '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.'

The inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution has been an old demand of people who speak this language. This Eighth Schedule lists the official languages of the country.

The schedule has 22 languages but originally there were 14.