Why is the NDA keeping quiet on the demand that Bhojpuri be become an official language?

Patna: On Wednesday, CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya requested that the language be designated as an official one by adding Bhojpuri to the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.

The demand is made in light of the CPI-ML’s contests in two central Bihar seats, Karakat and Ara, where the bulk of the population speaks Bhojpuri.

“Many regions of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are home to the popular language of Bhojpuri speakers. According to Bhattacharya, who spoke to the TOI on Wednesday, the residents of the former Shahabad region—which included the districts of Bhojpur, Rohtas, Kaimur, and Buxur—have long demanded that it be made an official language.

Bhattacharya questioned the NDA government’s silence on the matter, pointing out that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Union Home Minister Amit Shah had mentioned the matter in their respective state election campaigns yet. Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, has also been enigmatic about this. “The electorate who speaks Bhojpuri is being unfairly treated,” said the general secretary of the CPI-ML.

Ajit Kumar Singh, the party’s MLA for Dumraon, has also been bringing up this issue often. “I have brought up this matter in the assembly, but our demand has been met with a deafening silence from the Nitish administration. The Bhojpuri-speaking community has strong emotional ties to this subject, Singh said to a group of media members.