Kolkata: On Thursday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the acceptance of Bengali as a classical language. She stated that six other Indian languages have been granted this status earlier.
Addressing press reporters at the state secretariat, Banerjee stated that the classification of a language as classical is determined by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Currently, six languages have officially been recognized as classical – Tamil (in 2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu and Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014).
In her communication to the prime minister, the chief minister shared a summary of a "scholarly work" conducted by the state in four volumes. This work traces the origin of the Bangla/Bengali language to the 3rd-4th BCE. "In summary, the research shows that our language is a classical language with roots in antiquity, and we seek its recognition as such," the chief minister stated.
Bengali is the national language of a country, an official language of West Bengal, the second most-spoken language in India, and the seventh most-spoken language in the world, Banerjee wrote in the letter.
“There had always been claims to the antiquity of the Bengali language, but concrete research was not present to scientifically substantiate the claim. Now, I am happy to present concrete evidence-based research to prove that Bengal as a language existed, even in writing, as early as 3rd-4th BCE. I am sure that you would appreciate this scholarly work and ensure that our language gets its due recognition accordingly,” she wrote, and requested that the Ministry of Home Affairs acknowledge the language’s classical status.
Published 11 January 2024, 16:46 IST