‘NaMo has ratted on promise to include Bhojpuri in 8th Schedule of Constitution’

Patna: “As soon as Modi becomes PM, Bhojpuri would find a place in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution,” Bhojpuri Akademi president Chandra Bhushan Rai on Friday quoted BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad as having said at the Akhil Bharatiya Bhojpuri Sahitya Sammelan held at Patna in December 2013. However, Rai regretted, a committee, constituted by the Union home ministry under the chairmanship of its additional secretary B K Prasad to look into the matter, rejected the proposal on July 14 this year.This has created a feeling of deep betrayal in the hearts of Bhojpuri belt residents, he said.
Sources said the committee comprised representatives from the ministries of home, HRD, culture, law and institutions like Sahitya Akademi, among others. The committee rejected the proposal on the ground that Bhojpuri did not meet the requisite criterion which the other 22 languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution possessed and that its incorporation into the Schedule would hamper the growth of Hindi as a language.
“The then PM-designate Narendra Modi reneged on the promise he made during his election campaign in Varanasi last year – now that he has become PM,” Rai said at a press conference here. He said it has now become imperative to create awareness among the people. A sit-in protest will be held in Delhi on August 6 to attract the attention of the government on the issue, he added.
The Akademi has also decided to submit a memorandum to the PM through the governor of Bihar, to press for the demand to include Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule. The Akademi has also asked the authorities for permission to meet the PM to apprise him of their demands.