Kolkata: Call it linguistic identity, parochialism, or pushback against Hindi ‘imposition’, a renewed language ‘battle’ simmers between Bengali and non-Bengali speakers in West Bengal. Three stray instances have turned the spotlight on Bengali language, or Bangla.
In November, an undated video clip was shared widely in which a non-Bengali-speaking woman inside a Kolkata Metro tells a co-passenger: “You are not in Bangladesh. You are in India. West Bengal is a part of India, you must speak in Hindi. Living in India, you know Bengali but not Hindi?” The clip generated heated debate, both in the virtual and real world. The confrontation inside the Metro reached the state assembly, where Balagarh MLA Manoranjan Byapari appealed to those residing in the state to learn and respect Bengali.
Then popular Bengali singer Iman Chakraborty waded into this debate with her statement at a corporate event earlier this month. “You are free to listen to Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati or English songs, but how do you have the courage to say you will not listen to Bengali songs? If this was any other state, you would be taken by your hair and thrown out of the campus,” Iman told a person in the audience who requested no Bengali songs at the event.
Another clip recorded by a passenger claimed the Metro official at the ticket counter retorted to him when he asked him not to speak in Bengali, else he would be identified as a Bangladeshi. The passenger even filed a police complaint against the Metro official.
All these confrontations come at a time when the Centre, in October, accorded classical status to Bengali along with Marathi, Pali, Assamese and Prakrit languages.
In January, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written to the Prime Minister seeking a classical tag for Bengali language. For a language to be eligible for this tag, it needs to be at least 1,500 to 2,000 years old.
Even the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) wasn’t spared after a local market signage was found written only in Urdu and Hindi. The KMC faced flak for ignoring Bengali. Within hours a new signboard was installed with Bengali on it. In a bid to douse the raging controversy, the KMC released a circular directing all commercial establishments to mandatorily put up Bengali signage prominently within the stipulated deadline. The KMC has also decided to put out communique, letter pads, notices and orders in Bengali.
Politics has got the better of this debate, with BJP strongman Arjun Singh daring those waging a fight against the non-Bengali speaking population. “If it wasn’t for the Hindi-speaking voters who stood up against the erstwhile CPI(M) government, you (TMC) would not have won. Respect Hindi-speaking residents, don’t provoke us, don’t push us away. We fight till our last breath, who are you to push us out of Bengal? No one has the courage. For 140 years, our families have been settled in West Bengal. We are a part of this nation; how dare you push us aside,” the former Barrackpore MP said at an event on 23 December.
But another party leader Dilip Ghosh, a former BJP state president, came out the same day to criticise how Bengali is being ignored by Bengalis instead of pointing fingers at Hindi-speaking residents.
Ghosh asserted that Bengali is one of the world’s finest languages. “Yet, it seems to be fading away from West Bengal itself. At weddings, Hindi songs dominate. Even Bengali television serials now feature Hindi songs. The culture of paying respects (pranam) is being forgotten by Bengalis. Today’s generation barely understands the meaning of pranam, let alone practice it. How can they respect their parents if they don’t grasp these values?”
1.1 Bengali is one of the world's finest languages. Yet, it seems to be fading away from West Bengal itself. At weddings, Hindi songs dominate. Even Bengali television serials now feature Hindi songs. The culture of paying respects (pranam) is being forgotten by Bengalis. pic.twitter.com/5IdUfXS4wt
— Dilip Ghosh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DilipGhoshBJP) December 23, 2024
On its part, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) asserted that Bengali has no clash with any other Indian languages. “We are very proud of our Bengali language and due to the efforts of Mamata Banerjee, Bangla has also been recognised as a classical language by the central government,” TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar told ThePrint.
“We must acknowledge that West Bengal for time immemorial has been a place where people from several provinces have come and mingled with Bengal’s culture whether that is Hindi-, Tamil-, Assamese-, or Odia-speaking. Bengal is also proud of its own culture and language. Mamata Banerjee is driving hard for development, upkeep and spread of the Bengali language, but that has no clash with any other languages,” he added.
Having said that, the Trinamool raises the pitch of ‘Bohiragoto (outsiders)’ to counter the Bangladeshi influx card of the BJP in election after election.
The BJP’s notion, according to linguistic expert Pabitra Sarkar, on different languages spoken in the country isn’t clear yet. “BJP doesn’t have a clear notion of where the language should be placed. That’s why they call their workers ‘karyakartas’, but in Bengali, a worker is called ‘Kormi’. That is why it doesn’t endear them to the Bengalis.”
But the greater responsibility lies within the Bengali community, Sarkar asserted. “In any bilingual situation one language influences the other. In subordinate bilingualism there is one dominant language, and another is the dominated language. In the case of English, it is the dominant language, and all other Indian languages have been dominated. That’s why you see the usage of English words while speaking Bengali, or any other Indian languages.”
Bengalis are also responsible for neglecting our mother tongue, the linguistic expert asserted. “Those who speak English tend to use English words while speaking Bangla. In fact, in the rural areas, Bengali is spoken without English words. English medium education is highly in demand and Bengali language in that case becomes marginalised. This may be true for other languages in the country as well,” Sarkar explained.
The Constitution doesn’t have any mention of a national language but Hindi is one of the official languages, political scientist and author Shibaji Pratim Basu said.
“Hindi is spoken mostly in North India and is becoming more important. So, there is an imposition of Hindi that’s threatening other languages. Here, it is happening in Kolkata and Howrah, which have a large migrant population and are cosmopolitan in nature. But even Bengalis overlook Bangla. There has been a drastic fall in Bengali publications too as demand has declined greatly,” Basu told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Biharis should immediately be thrown out of West Bengal by amending the laws as they would destroy not only the Culture of West Bengal but would also downgrade the GDP of the State by producing 6-7 Children per family ultimately reducing the per Capita Income.
Bihari Caste people are the worst in the whole country because they don’t adapt to other cultures and impose theirs on others wherever they go and that’s the reason why Biharis were thrown by Raj Thackeray frequently from Maharashtra, apart from that they are the most invasive and Criminal Minded Caste as is evident from the Language of that Rascal Arjun Singh because most of the Crimes committed in West Bengal are by the Biharis including the R.G. Kar incident where a Bengali Lady Doctor was raped and murdered by a Bihari Bastard, not only they have the vultures sight on the wealth of the Bengalis but also they are ready to grab the Bengali Girls by hook or crook.
It’s very good movement feel proud to be a bengali
West Bengal has been overrun with Biharis – this is the crux of the problem as far as the language issue is concerned.
Illegal immigration from Bangladesh poses a grave threat to national security. It leads to drastic changes in demography and as experience tell us, once the Muslim population comes close to majority in a town/district/state, many areas become off-limits to the police and all kinds of anti-national and terrorist activity takes place. Examples are Muslim majority towns and districts in Bengal as well as Assam.
However, the Bihari migrant population has no such anti-India agenda or terorrist inclinations. But it does wish to impose the Hindi language on Bengalis residing in Bengal. This, again, is simply unacceptable to any self-respecting Bengali.