'Centre maligning all regions, regional languages'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the Centre of maligning all regions and regional languages.

She was reacting to the Centre’s decision for adding only Gujarati among regional languages as a medium for the Joint Entrance Examination (Main).

She also asked why Bengali along with all other regional languages should not be added as a medium.

“Our country is India, which is home to so many religions, cultures, languages, creeds and communities. However, maligning all regions and regional languages is the intention of the government at the Centre. Joint Entrance Exams so long were conducted in English and Hindi languages. Surprisingly, now only Gujarati language has been added,” Mamata stated is a Facebook post

Describing the decision as “not at all praiseworthy”, she said that she loves Gujarati but asked why other regional languages were being ignored.

“Why injustice is being meted out to them? If Gujarati has to be there, then all regional languages including Bengali must be there,” she stated.

The chief minister also warned the Centre that unless the issue is resolved “gracefully” it will face protests across the country.

“Unless this issue is decided gracefully, there will be strong protests all around, as sentiments of people who speak other regional languages would be deeply hurt due to this injustice,” she stated.

The Central Board of Secondary Education added Marathi, Urdu and Gujarati in 2014 to the mediums of examination. Although Urdu and Marathi was dropped in 2016, Gujarati remained along with Hindi and English.