SASARAM (RNI) Shahabad Mahotsav Organizing Committee welcomed the arrival of Prime Minister in Vikramganj and demanded to give constitutional status to Bhojpuri language by including it in the eighth schedule and to make Shahabad region the 10th commissionerate of Bihar. During the press conference held at Hotel Rana Sagar in Vikramganj on Monday, the convener of the committee, Akhilesh Kumar said that the people of Bikramganj have hopes regarding the arrival of PM on the land of Shahabad on 30th May that he will announce that “Mai Bhasha Bhojpuri” of this region will be given constitutional status by including it in the eighth schedule. Along with this, through Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar present on the stage, he will also announce to make Shahabad the 10th commissionerate of Bihar.

Akhilesh Kumar has said that before independence, there were a total of 11 districts in Bihar, out of which 9 districts were made commissionerates, but Shahabad has not got the status of commissionerate till date. He said that Shahabad region is the most literate district of Bihar and is more in area and population than both the present Munger and Saran commissionerates. It is also the top in literacy rate and revenue. Despite this, injustice has been done to this region till now.

Akhilesh Kumar said that wherever Narendra Modi goes to Bhojpuri speaking areas of the country and abroad, he starts his speech in Bhojpuri, but it has not been given constitutional status yet. He said that the then Home Minister and current Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had announced on 12 November 2016 that Bhojpuri will be the 23rd language of the country to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also given in-principle consent and the order will also be issued soon. But even after about 10 years of this announcement, it has not got constitutional status, due to which there is disappointment among Bhojpuri speakers. The convener of Shahabad Mahotsav Organizing Committee said that the historical, cultural and religious heritage of Shahabad region has been very glorious and there are immense possibilities of tourism here, even Lord Ram was taught to use weapons and scriptures by Maharishi Vishwamitra on the land of Shahabad, despite this it was neither connected to the Ramayana circuit nor tourist facilities were developed here. Whereas this area is situated between the major tourist places of the country Sarnath-Varanasi and Bodh Gaya-Rajgir. On one hand, the dream of making 'local to Bhokhal' will come true by developing tourist facilities and the doors of self-employment will open, on the other hand, the country and the world will also get an opportunity to know about our glorious historical cultural heritage. Educationist Amarendra Rajesh said that Bhojpuri speaking people have established their language not only in India but at the global level, but unfortunately we have not been able to get constitutional rights for it in our country till date. He demanded to make Shahabad a commissionerate, so that the pace of development here gets a boost. The press conference was also attended by Bhojpuri Student Union co-convenor Sohit Kumar Sinha, researcher Ravi Prakash Suraj, Anuruddha Singh, Syandan Suman, RJD leader Vimal Kumar Singh, Rashtriya Lok Morcha state vice-president Haricharan Kushwaha, Praveen Singh, BJP leader Subhash Tiwari, Private School Association's Ayub Khan, Rishuraj etc.