'Hindi belt' languages must thrive like Hindi: Bhojpuri, Maithili experts
India Today
As India celebrates Hindi Diwas, there are still many 'Hindi belt' languages, like Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Maithili and others that are still struggling to maintain their literature.
As the country celebrated Hindi Diwas on Wednesday, many 'Hindi belt' languages, like Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Maithili and others are still struggling to maintain their literature. A large part of the Hindi belt is in the Poorvanchal, where none of the local languages are recognised by the government.
The artists, social workers and linguists of such local languages, while wishing Hindi Diwas, demanded recognition of all these languages by the government.
"Only the Rajasthani language has been recognised by the government. Other languages of the Hindi belt, which include Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Magahi, Maithili and others, are still not recognised. Neither is there any course for such languages in schools or universities. We demand such languages to be included in the constitution of India and language courses should be launched till standard 12th in schools," said Nabeen Kumar, a mechanical engineer who is based in Dubai and runs a literary organization to save the Bhojpuri language.
Renowned historian Dr Bhagwan Singh, who is an expert in ancient Indian history from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), says that a balance between Hindi and local languages must be maintained.
"The Poorvanchal languages like Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Magahi, Mathili and others have a great role in making Hindi such a popular language. While we are proud Hindi speakers, we also should not let such languages fade away. Their dialect and literature should be preserved like Gujarati or Marathi or Bengali," Dr Singh said.
Adarsh Aadi, an artist, singer and founder of Misri, a Bhojpuri traditional song platform, said, "We should not compare Hindi to Bhojpuri or any other local languages. They are both equally important to us. In the quest of speaking better Hindi or English, we should not let our original language fade away. This is the spirit of India that we have such a diverse culture and languages, we should maintain it at any cost."
Meanwhile, Aditya Mohan, president, Mithila Student Union (MSU) said, "Hindi was used to connect India during the freedom struggle. Maithili is an older language than Hindi. It has a history of over 500 years. With the imposition of Hindi, the literature of Maithili is slowly fading away. We need to preserve it and make our generations aware of their roots."
