Bhubaneswar, Oct. 5: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik still struggles with his Odia and the state in the past has had MPs with no knowledge of the language. But a humble sarpanch in Jajpur's Balibili gram panchayat has lost her post for her inability to write Odia.

Orissa High Court has also upheld a Jajpur court's verdict that disqualified Binata Samal as sarpanch for not being able to write Odia.

The plight of Binata Samal has triggered a debate on Odia language criterion being applicable only to local self-government representatives, while the state's MLAs and MPs remain outside its purview.

Irrespective of the fact that disqualification of the sarpanch was upheld under the panchayat law, while the Representation of the People Act dealt with MLAs and MPs, linguists feel that language criteria should be evenly applied to elected representatives at all levels.

"Ability to read and write the language of the state ought to be made obligatory for people's representatives at all levels as it is vital to both communicate with those they represent and to voice their demands," said Dr Bijayananda Singh, Odia language expert and president of Utkal Sahitya Samaj.

One can recall that in the past Rajya Sabha members such as S.R. Bommai (Janata Dal), Balbir Punj and Chhatrapal Singh Lodha (both BJP) had been elected from Odisha and none were conversant with the state's most popular language.

The language issue had also reared its head in the Assembly last year when Kengam Surya Rao, the ruling BJD MLA from Telugu dominated Parlakhemundi, was denied the privilege to ask a question in Hindi, but the Speaker later relented and conceded his right to use the national language in the House.

Congress chief whip and MLA from Jeypore Tara Prasad Bahinipati agreed that it was unfair to disqualify a sarpanch for not being able to read or write Odia, while the same did not apply to other elected representatives.

"The language criterion should be equally applicable to all, though in the larger interest of preserving and promoting Odia language and culture public representatives should learn it," he said.

He, however, added that there were places in the state where multiple languages and dialects were spoken. This, he said, could influence the choice of people.

While civil society activist Raj Kishore Mishra said that the issue of local language being made compulsory would depend on the context and there should be nothing hard and fast about it, former minister and ruling BJD spokesperson P.K. Deb said legal issues apart, in the context of modern India when there is talk of a digital revolution, it would be ideal to have people's representatives who were able to read and write.

"Preferably, we should not have just literate, but also educated representatives," he added.

Former Congress president Jaydev Jena felt the time was ripe for incorporating a provision about knowledge of a state's main language in the Representation of People Act.

"Our chief minister's ignorance of Odia should be challenged in the court. He should resign at least on moral grounds for not knowing the language," said Jena.

State BJP spokesperson Sajjan Sharma, on the other hand, sought to draw a line between leaders with executive functions and others when applying the language test to them.

"Leaders with executive functions such as chief minister, ministers and even sarpanches should know the language, otherwise it would impede their effective functioning," he said.

He lamented that even leaders like former chief minister Biju Patnaik treated Odia as a secondary language and was more comfortable communicating in English.

The debate as it gathers momentum may be further fuelled by a recent Supreme Court verdict that stayed the operation of Haryana Panchayati Raj Amendment Act-2015 that prescribes matriculation as the minimum educational qualification for contesting local body elections. State leaders refused to comment on the judgement but it, nevertheless, speaks for itself.

Do you feel people's representatives from the state
should be able to read and write Odia?
Send in your views to ttodisha@abp.in