Mamata Banerjee seeks classical language status for Bengali, writes to PM Modi

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to give Bengali the status of a classical language as it has qualified the criteria set by the CentreIn her letter to the PM Banerjee presented a research document that claimed to fulfil all the four criteria set by the Ministry of Home AffairsI take this opportunity to present before you a summary kindly see enclosure of a scholarly work undertaken by us in 4 volumes which dates the origin of Bangla and Bengali language to the 3rd4th BCE In sum the research shows that our is a classical language with roots in antiquity and we seek its recognition as such the West Bengal CM saidShe further noted that apart from being the national language of a country Bangladesh an official language of our State and the second most spoken language in India is also the 7th most spoken language in the worldThe Bengali people have a rich heritage and culture dating back to prehistoric times There had always been claims about the antiquity of the Bengali language but concrete research was not present to scientifically substantiate the claim Now I am happy to present concrete evidencebased research to prove that Bengali as a language existed even in writing as early as 3rd4th BCE the letter readsShe further expressed her confidence that the PM Modi would appreciate the scholarly work presented by the West Bengal government and ensure that Bengali gets its due recognition accordinglyAt present only six languages enjoy the classical status they include all the south Indian languages Tamil Telugu Kannada Malayalam and Sanskrit and Odia Tamil was the first to be accorded the status in 2004 following a longstanding demand by the Dravidian parties and Odia was included in the list in 2014As per the Centres guidelines a language must meet some requirements to be declared as classical They include the high antiquity of its early textsrecorded history over 15002000 years a body of ancient literaturetexts which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers a literary tradition thats original and not borrowed from another speech community and being distinct from modern without discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshootsBanerjee also said that Bengalis classical status is supported by its rich historical evolution encompassing both oral and written traditionsShe further claimed that evidence from archaeological findings inscriptions references in ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts and a substantial body of preseventhcentury Bengali literature underpins its classical heritageMoreover concrete proof of written Bengali dating back to the 3rd4th century BCE further testifies to its ancient origins and development aligning it with the criteria established for recognizing Classical Languages in India she saidAs per the CM the research presented by her government before the Centre shows that Bengali retains its fundamental syntactic structure as well as its distinct morphological and phonological patterns throughout its course of evolution at least from the 3rd BCEI would be grateful if you kindly issue necessary instructions to the Ministry of Home Affairs so that the claim of Bengali language as a Classical Language is accepted at the earliest she addedThe second chapter of the research done by West Bengal government looks into the evidences of earliest settlements in Bengal right from the preliterate past pre5th to 3rd century BCE in order to establish the ancestry of the speechcommunity called the BengaliIt also says that the available archaeological and historical evidences which bear testimony to the cultural representation of stone tools spread across the archaeological time periods of Lower Middle and Upper Palaeolithic ages and thereafter conclusively establish the settlement of people in the territory of what is known today as West BengalThe third chapter clearly establishes the presence of a community called the Bengali at different geographical sites of presentday Bengal from prehistoric to the historic times through archaeological and historical evidenceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever