[lg policy] Nepal: Language issue in Province 2 gets knottier

Fri Mar 9 15:47:28 UTC 2018

 Language issue in Province 2 gets knottier

March 9, 2018 08:13 AM Suresh Yadav
<http://www.myrepublica.com/news/author/1551>

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JANAKPUR, March 9: With the tussle between those for and against 'Hindi as
the official language' of Province 2 growing, the language debate in the
province has become complicated. The ruling and opposition parties are
unlikely to resolve this debate anytime soon.

While the ruling parties such as Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) and
Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) are vocal about adopting Hindi as the
language of official business in the province, opposition leaders from the
Nepali Congress (NC) argue that this can never happen.

On the other hand, CPN-UML and Maoists leaders, though they are not in the
opposition, have made informal statements that either Maithali or Bhojpuri
could be the official language. If there is no consensus on any local
language, Nepali could rather be used as the official language instead of
Hindi, they say.

"See, we cannot take a decision just on the basis of emotions. Be
practical. For those in the eastern side of the province, Bhojpuri is a
difficult language. And those who live in the western side cannot speak
Maithili properly. But, both can speak Hindi. So, Hindi alone can become
the language to connect the people here," states Yogendra Raya Yadav, a
member of the Business Advisory Committee under the federal parliament. "If
we make Maithili the official language, Bhojpuri speaking people won't
accept it. And vice versa," he added.

The parliamentary party leader of NC, Ramsaroj Yadav is not ready to buy
the argument. He calls it a huge betrayal against the locals. The party
which rose to power through identity-based politics is going against it
today, he said.

"In the past, it was them, who used to protest against one official
language policy. They used to talk big about promoting the local languages,
cultures, and identity. And today, they are not feeling ashamed or odd to
promote a language which is heavily spoken in some other country as the
main language of their province," he said.

Yadav added that it is a great misfortune for the province that the
Madhes-based leaders themselves are trying to betray their land and people.
"If they really want a link language, has the Nepali language died? Can't
it connect the two - Maithili and Bhojpuri speakers? Why have they not
understood this? Rather than Hindi, the people here would love to speak and
write Nepali as the official language," he stated.

According to Yadav, Hindi can never be the official language of the
province. Even if it is passed by the provincial assembly as the official
language due to the 'power equation', that will never be accepted to the
people, he said.

"If we cannot fight in parliament, we will fight on the streets," he stated.

Parliamentary party leader of CPN-UML, Satya Narayan Mandal also maintained
that Hindi should not be the official language of the province. That will
weaken the local languages, he said.

"Adopting Hindi as the official language is a kind of conspiracy to weaken
the local language. Maithili and Bhojpuri will be undermined that way.
These two languages are spoken by over 90 percent people here. And children
of both these communities are well versed in the Nepali language. So,
Nepali is the best option for the official language," Mandal said.

Meanwhile, parliamentary party leader of RJPN, Jitendra Sonal did not like
to comment on the debate stating that there has not been a formal
discussion over the issue. "After the historic elections, the major
challenge now is to tread on the path of development and prosperity. We
should not waste time debating much on language," he said.

Sonal is also the general secretary of RJPN and Physical Infrastructure
Development Minister of the province. He had taken the oath of office in
the Hindi langue for the minstrel post.

Meanwhile, Professor Bhogendra Jha stated that 'Hindi should be respected'
but not made the official language of the province. "It is not good for any
group to stand against the Hindi language. But how fair is it to destroy
the local languages by adopting Hindi as the official language? So, the
struggle for identity is still not over even after the elections. Things
such as national unity and our identity cannot be undermined," he noted.

Among the 107 provincial assembly members, 47 had taken the oath of office
in Maithili, 25 in Bhojpuri, 24 in Nepali and 11 in the Hindi language

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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