West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to accord ‘Bangla’ the status of a classical language.
In her letter, Mamata mentioned that the language's origin can be traced back to the 3rd-4th BCE and is the seventh most spoken language in the world, reports The Indian Express.
Addressing a press conference at Nabanna on Thursday (11 January), Mamata Banerjee said, “Bangla is 2,500 years old. The previous government did not take the initiative (to promote it). Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, and many other languages have been classified as classical languages; then why not Bangla? I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on this.”
In the letter, Mamata has cited the evidence collected by her government, which shows that Bangla dates back to prehistoric times.
In her letter to PM Modi, Banerjee wrote: “I take this opportunity to present before you a summary of a scholarly work undertaken by us in four volumes, which dates the origin of ‘Bangla/Bengali language to the 3rd-4th BCE. In sum, the research shows that our language is a classical language with roots in antiquity, and we seek its recognition as such.”
“Bengali, apart from being the national language of a country, an official language of our State, and the second most spoken language in India, is also the seventh most spoken language in the world. The Bengali people have a rich heritage and culture dating back to prehistoric times. There had always been claims to the antiquity of the Bengali language, but concrete research was not present to scientifically substantiate the claim. Now, I am happy to present concrete evidence-based research to prove that Bengali as a language existed, even in writing, as early as 3rd-4th BCE. I am sure that you would appreciate this scholarly work and ensure that our language gets its due recognition accordingly,” the letter read."
