SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Jan 5: A letter of the Education Minister of Jharkhand Jagarnath Mahto to Chief Minister Hemant Soren over the removal of Bhojpuri and Maghi languages from the list of regional languages in Dhanbad and Bokaro districts has triggered sharp protest from all quarters of people.
Bhojpuri and Maghi language-speaking people while protesting the demand of the education minister have said that rather than promoting the popular languages, the minister is trying to create an inside-outside dispute among the public on the basis of language.
“This is nothing but a way to hide the failure of the state government and divert the youth from core issues in the name of the language,” said Dhanbad Sadar MLA Raj Sinha.
The education minister has said that people of Dhanbad and Bokaro districts oppose Bhojpuri and Maghi languages. They remark that these languages should be regional languages and they are gearing up for agitation.
Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) has kept both the languages as regional languages in the competitive examination in both districts.
Dhanbad MLA Raj Sinha said that Bhojpuri is not only the language of the majority of people in Dhanbad and Bokaro albeit people of Palamu, Ranchi, Sahebganj and other districts of Jharkhand also use the language.
“In fact, it is a well calculated conspiracy of the state government. Since it has failed to fulfil its promise of providing jobs to 5 lakhs people, its minister is diverting youth’s attention to other issues,” said Sinha.
Famous Bhojpuri author of Jharkhand and retired IAS officer Sriram Dubey also opposed the demand of the education minister. He said that the government has included both the languages in the list after having seen its popularity in both the districts.
“Bhojpuri speaking people have a major contribution in the movement for separate state Jharkhand and its development. Even Mauritius and Suriname like countries have kept it in their national language list. So, opposition of these languages in Dhanbad and Bokaro is not justified,” Dubey said.
“In fact politicians should keep a broad mind for the last long success in politics. Mean mind thinking leads to narrow gain. Demand of the education minister is mean thinking,” he added.
Social activist Anil Pandey of Dhanbad said that Bhojpuri is the political, social and business medium of people. So, the minister should have thought twice before writing the letter, he added.
