Author:
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: June 9, 2004
URL: http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP20040608113854&Page=P&Title=States&Topic=0&
A recommendation by the Minority
Commission in Jharkhand to accord second language status to Bengali has
provoked a sharp reaction from other minority communities in the state,
particularly Muslims.
The commission had last week recommended
that the Jain community be accorded minority status and that Bengali be
named the second state language if Bengali-speaking people constitute more
than 10 percent of the state's population.
This has been a long-standing demand
of the Bengalis who constitute about 20 percent of the state's population.
But it has the Muslim organisations
in the state enraged. They have called for a strike on June 21 if the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)-led state government fails to notify Urdu as the second
state language by June 20.
"The state government has overlooked
our previous memorandums demanding second language status to Urdu. It is
trying to end Urdu language in the state and marginalise the Muslim community.
But we will not allow the conspiracy to succeed," said Afsar Imam, president
of Muslim Adhikar Manch.
Muslim groups in the state have
accused Minority Commission chief Kamal Khan of working as a tool of the
state government.
"Kamal Khan will be boycotted by
the Muslim community and he will not be invited to any function," stated
a press release from the Muslim Adhikar Manch.
Community leaders cite as an example
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where Urdu has been accorded the second language
status.
Muslims constitute nine percent
of the total population of the state.
Bengali groups, which called for
a vote against the BJP in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections, have
welcomed the recommendation and asked the state government to notify Bengali
as a second language.
The language issue is likely to
gain momentum and is all set to become an issue in the assembly elections
due next February.
