Residents celebrate International Mother Tongue Day at Bokaro. Picture by Pankaj Singh

Dumka, Feb. 21: The Madhu Koda government came under fire on World Mother Tongue Day today for allegedly ignoring the basic spirit of the day and not according second language status to Bengali in the state.

Spearheaded by Bangla Bhasha-O-Sanskriti Raksha Samity, a group for fighting the cause of Bengali langu- age and literature, the activists resolved to knock on the doors of Supreme Court against the step-motherly attitude of the government though 44 per cent people in Jharkhand speak in Bengali.

Taking a cue from the diary of the language movement in Bangladesh in 1952, the activists here today observed the day chalking out strategies of demanding second language status for Bengali in the state.

The samity today organised a colourful function to mark the day on Popular Club premises.

The chief guest at the function, Siddharth Roy, also the chief editor of a Bengali magazine in Patna, called upon intellectuals of Bihar and Jharkhand to chalk out a movement against the vindictive attitude of the state government.

Addressing the packed auditorium of Popular Club, Roy accused the state government of violating the basic concept of language formula and promoting only Urdu, which is spoken by hardly one per cent of the state’s population, as the second language.

“Bengali is spoken by more than 44 per cent people in the state. Tribals, Muslims and many others also speak the language as it is the link language in places like Santhal Pargana, Dhanbad and Singhbhum,” he said.

Gautam Kumar Chatterjee, the samity secretary, said: “In 1999, Unesco gave due recognition to the sacrifices of mother tongue lovers, who were killed in police firing on this day. The day began to be observed as World Mother Tongue Day.”

He said that the then Arjun Munda government in a cabinet meeting on August 19, 2005, decided to accord second language status to Bengali in Jharkhand.

The then cabinet secretary, Aditya Saroop, to issued official recommendation for it on August 22, 2005, but unfortunately the notification was not published.