CM: State’s research helped Bengali gain classical language status
Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Friday, expressed her happiness over the Centre according classical language status to Bengali and claimed that she has been fighting for the due recognition for a decade.
“Bengali is the fifth most-spoken language in the world and the second most-spoken language in Asia. If languages spoken in Tamil Nadu and Kerala were granted classical language status, then why not Bengali? We are happy that our language at last has been given the recognition it deserves,” said Banerjee while inaugurating the Ekdalia Evergreen Durga Puja in Kolkata
Bengali, Assamese, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit were declared classical languages on Thursday by the Union Cabinet during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Bengali was neglected for years but it was me who took the initiative to take up the issue with the Centre through a letter. Our government sent large volumes of documents to back our claim. They could not ignore the research we used to substantiate our claim,” she said.
Immediately after the Centre’s announcement on Thursday, the CM posted on X: “Most happy to share that Bengali/Bangla has been finally accorded the status of a classical language by Government of India. We had been trying to snatch this recognition from Ministry of Culture, GOI and we had submitted three volumes of research findings in favour of our contention. The Union government has accepted our well-researched claim today evening and we finally reached the cultural apex in the body of languages in India.”
Banerjee in January 2024 wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking the Central government to officially list Bengali as a “classical language”. Banerjee stated that based on scientific research, it has been established by her state team that Bengali had its origins 2500 years ago.
BJP state President Sukanta Majumdar on Friday wrote a letter to the Chief Minister demanding the status of ‘language martyrs’ for Rajesh Burman and Tapas Sarkar of Darivit in North Dinajpur.
In 2018, these two persons, while protesting against the Urdu invasion in Bengal were allegedly shot dead by the police “Had they been alive today, they would have felt proud like every Bengali!” Majumdar said.
Meanwhile, Banerjee also inaugurated several pujas in south Kolkata that includes Bhowanipore Sitala Mandir, Singhi Park, Falguni Sangha, Hindustan Park, Ballygunge Cultural, Samajsebi Sangha, Mudiali Club, Shibmandir, Badamtala Ashar Sangha, 66 Palli, Tridhara etc.
The Chief Minister virtually inaugurated some 400-odd pujas across the district during Tridhara inauguration which is patronised by TMC MLA Debashish Kumar.
