People's Democracy

Divisive Game On Language Issue

KAMAL Khan is a leader of the BJP in Jharkhand, a member of its Lok Sabha election committee and chairman of the state minority commission. Recently he made a public statement saying the commission had recommended to the state government to make Bengali a second language by replacing Urdu. The Jharkhand state committee of the CPI(M) has criticised this recommendation and dubbed it as a deliberate attempt by the BJP to deceive the Bengali speaking people, with an eye on the coming Vidhan Sabha election, while creating a feeling of deprivation and insult among the Muslim minority in the state. 

The CPI(M) regretted that misplaced euphoria and dissension have been expressed by some organisations on this statement, playing straight in the BJP’s hands. The Jharkhand state government is silent on this issue. It is the government that has to take a decision on the issue and not the minority commission.

The CPI(M) also pointed out that after the formation of Jharkhand, the same BJP led state government consistently ignored the Bengali speaking minorities by removing them from the purview of the state’s minority commission, a place they had in the united Bihar. The same BJP led government of Jharkhand also deprived the minority schools of funding, ignored the appeal to save the minority school at Karmatand which was established by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and ignored the offer of help by the chief minister of the Left Front government of West Bengal for translation and printing of NCERT books in Bengali language for Bengali speaking students in Jharkhand. Moreover, it is the same BJP led government in Jharkhand that never moved a resolution in the assembly for recognition of Santhali as a national language despite the fact that such a resolution was unanimously adopted by the West Bengal legislative assembly. The same BJP led government in the state has continuously been ignoring the demand for establishing primary schools and appointment of teachers for imparting education to students in their mother languages.

The CPI(M) has pointed out that if the state government were really sincere on the language question, it should have come out with a language policy to specify the place of Urdu, Bengali, Santhali and other tribal languages in the state --- not only for JPSC examinations but also in other aspects including education from primary stage onward.

Recalling that the people of Jharkhand defeated the BJP and its divisive policies in the last Lok Sabha election, the CPI(M)’s Jharkhand state committee has appealed to the people not to allow the BJP’s divisive attempt on the issue of language policy for electoral gain in the coming Vidhan Sabha election. People should see through this divisive attempt of the BJP as nothing more than a political stunt.