4 min readKolkataOct 4, 2024 01:46 PM IST
First published on: Oct 4, 2024 at 01:44 PM IST
West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) engaged in a war of words to claim credit after the Union Cabinet recently recognised Bengali as a “classical language” along with Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, and Assamese.
“The classical languages serve as a custodian of India’s heritage, embodying the essence of a community’s historical and cultural milestone,” Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told mediapersons while announcing the move, taking the total number of classical languages to 11.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X on Thursday, “I am very happy that the great Bengali language has been conferred the status of a Classical Language, especially during the auspicious time of Durga Puja. Bengali literature has inspired countless people for years. I congratulate all the Bengali speakers all over the world on this.”
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on the platform, “We had been trying to snatch this recognition from the Ministry of Culture, GOI and we had submitted three volumes of research findings in favour of our contention.” She added that she was “most happy” to “share” news of the recognition.
“Union government has accepted our well-researched claim today evening and we finally reach the cultural apex in the body of languages in India,” Banerjee added.
Criticising her comments, BJP state president Sukanta Majumder took to X as well. Acknowledging the “joy” of the win, he said, “… at the same time, today we remember the two martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Bengali language in West Bengal recently. In 2018, while protesting against the Urdu invasion in the holy land of Bengal, two Bengali children Rajesh Burman and Tapas Sarkar of North Dinajpur’s Dandivit had to be shot dead by the police under your control. If they were alive today, they would have felt proud like every Bengali!” he said, referring to the Chief Minister.
He added, “As Bengali words are slowly converted into Urdu from Bengali textbooks for the sake of your unfair vote-bank politics, even today they are a concern for Bengalis.”
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari wrote on X, “I am grateful to Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji, the Cabinet of the Government of India under his leadership for giving the status of “classical language” to our mother tongue, our beloved Bengali language. People all over Bengal are happy that this announcement was made during Durga Puja.”
He noted that research grants, preservation initiatives, opportunities to include Bengali in curricula, and special awards for writers, researchers, and linguists in Bengali will be organised as a “result” of the recognition.
In November 2004, a Linguistic Experts Committee (LEC) was constituted by the Ministry of Culture under the Sahitya Akademi to examine the eligibility of the languages proposed to be accorded classical language status. The following year, Sanskrit was declared a classical language. Gradually, Telugu and Kannada in 2008, and Malayalam and Odia in 2013 and 2014 joined the list.
Officials said a proposal was received from the Maharashtra government in 2013 requesting classical language status for Marathi, which was forwarded to the LEC. However, during inter-ministerial consultations for conferring classical status to the Marathi language, the Ministry of Home Affairs advised revising the criteria to make it stricter.
In the meantime, proposals from Bihar, Assam, and West Bengal were also received advocating the inclusion of Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali.
(From left to right) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and BJP state president Sukanta Majumder. (Express Archives/ File) 
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