HINDI SHOULD BE RESPECTED ALL OVER INDIA LIKE THE NATIONAL FLAG: JITAN RAM MANJHI

HINDI SHOULD BE RESPECTED ALL OVER INDIA LIKE THE NATIONAL FLAG: JITAN RAM MANJHI

4-SEP-ENG 2

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

PATNA-------------------------Every Indian should respect the Indian language 'Hindi' like the 'national flag'. Even if Hindi has not been declared the 'national language' by the government, the whole country still considers it the 'national language'. We will put in all our efforts to ensure that it is declared the national language of India soon.

These words were said by India's Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi while inaugurating the 'Hindi Fortnight and Pustak Chaudas Mela', which began at the Bihar Hindi Sahitya Sammelan on Monday. He said that literature and writers have guided the society in every era. Books do the same work. The work done by writers in the freedom struggle, the way they awakened the country, is our golden history. In the South, some people oppose Hindi, insult Hindi to shine their politics. This is reprehensible. They misuse the freedom of speech. Mr. Manjhi said that the Chairman and other officials of Sahitya Sammelan should meet the President and the Prime Minister along with me as a delegation to request for a 'national language'. The Prime Minister will surely listen to us.

On this occasion, Mr. Manjhi also released the book 'Anuchintan' by senior writer Dr. Pushpa Jamuar and the poetry collection 'Chaak-Chumban' by former naval officer and poet Santosh Singh 'Rakh', published by Sahitya Sammelan.

Presiding over the meeting, the Chairman of the Sammelan, Dr. Anil Sulabh said that on 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India declared 'Hindi' as the working language of the Government of India, i.e. the 'official language', to commemorate which, this date is celebrated as 'Hindi Day' throughout India. But the harsh truth is that due to the two ‘provisos’ added to this decision of the Constituent Assembly and the people who were in power in the later days, who had a grudge against Hindi, it has not been allowed to become the ‘official language’ till date. Now the people of India do not want ‘official language’ but ‘national language’. The Government of India should take necessary legal action to declare Hindi as the ‘national language of India’ as soon as possible, so that the resolutions of the Constituent Assembly of India can be fulfilled.

Welcoming the guests at the beginning, the welcome chairman of the function and the vice-president of the conference, Dr. Kumar Arunoday requested the honourable minister to convey the demand of the conference to declare Hindi as the national language of the country to the Prime Minister and to help in giving it a concrete shape. Senior vice-president of the conference and senior litterateur Jiyalal Arya, Dr. Shankar Prasad, Dr. Madhu Verma, authors of the released books, Dr. Pushpa Jamuar, Santosh Kumar ‘Rakh’ also expressed their views. Before this, on the birth anniversary of former vice-president of the conference and writer Nripendra Nath Gupta, popularly known as 'Rashtrabhasha-prahari', he was remembered with reverence by paying floral tribute to his portrait. The stage was conducted by Art Minister Dr. Pallavi Vishwas and vote of thanks was given by Management Minister Krishnaranjan Singh. On this occasion, Prof. J.B. Pandey, the coordinator of the program, Mr. Ashok Kumar, Dr. Mehta Nagendra Singh, Mr. Banke Bihari Sao, Dr. Nageshwar Prasad Yadav, Dr. Shalini Pandey, poetess Aradhana Prasad, Dr. Kumar Indradev, Praveer Kumar Pankaj, Prof. Sunil Kumar Upadhyay, Jai Prakash Pujari, Shubh Chandra Sinha, Madhurani Lal, Mr. Anand Kishore Mishra, Dr. Manoj Govardhanpuri, Vibha Rani Srivastava, Sagarika Rai, Dr. Pratibha Rani, Dr. Renu Mishra, Indu Upadhyay, Dr. Dinesh Diwakar, Narendra Kumar Jha, Premlata Singh Rajput, Chanda Mishra, Shrikant Vyas, Chitranjan Lal Bharti, Madhurani Lal, Shashi Bhushan Kumar, Dr. Meena Kumari Parihar, Neeta Sahay, Dr. Sushma Kumari, Siddheshwar, Indu Bhushan Sahay, Uttara Singh, Surya Prakash Upadhyay, Anand Mohan Jha, Rauli Kumari, Ashwini Kaviraj, Arvind Akela and a large number of Hindi-lovers and intellectuals were present. In the book fair, along with the National Book Trust, the Bihar Hindi Sahitya Sammelan's publication department has set up galleries, which have decorated the conference hall with books. Books of dozens of authors are available at discounts ranging from 10 percent to 50 percent in the conference galleries. An exhibition of many rare books has also been organised.