Political reality: everybody loves a Bhojpuri star but the language remains marginal to mainstream politics

Bhojpuri stars sought after by political parties for Lok Sabha elections due to language's cultural significance and widespread speakers.

Political parties have been clamouring to get on board as many Bhojpuri stars as they can on their candidate list. The entertainment industry performers hold sway over parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, across about 73,000 square kilometres which identifies Bhojpuri as its mother tongue.

Bhojpuri folk singer Neha Singh Rathore, who the Congress party is considering for a Lok Sabha ticket from North East Delhi, said, “Crores of Bhojpuri-speaking people have been waiting for decades for their language to get the official status. It is unfortunate that people who got votes in the name of Bhojpuri have kept the language in a neglected state. Until Bhojpuri is accepted as a language for imparting education, no entrance examinations for jobs can be conducted in the language and it cannot be used for government work.” Ms. Rathore has a YouTube channel which has 1.2 million subscribers, through which she has started a movement called the Bhojpuri Bachao Aandolan.

According to the 2011 Census, 5.6 crore people in India identified Bhojpuri as their mother tongue, ranking sixth in terms of the number of people who speak it in the country. Yet it is not part of Schedule 8 of the Indian Constitution that lists 22 official languages. Bhojpuri speakers and experts believe this needs to be addressed immediately.

Actor-singer Pawan Singh, who has been fielded by the BJP from Asansol, has 3.5 million followers on Instagram and over 11 lakh followers on X. Actor-singer Dinesh Lal Yadav (popularly known as Nirahua), BJP MP from Azamgarh who has been given a ticket again, has 1.8 million Instagram followers and over 25 lakh followers on X. Actor-singer-music director Manoj Tiwari, sitting BJP MP from North East Delhi, has over 8 lakh Instagram followers and 1.7 million followers on X. Actor-producer Ravi Kishan, who is the sitting BJP MP from Gorakhpur and has been fielded from there again, has over 2 lakh Instagram followers and over 56.5 lakh followers on X.

For a language, which has long been subsumed under the umbrella of Hindi, Bhojpuri has evolved over the last four decades as a cultural identity which has a dedicated genre of literature, films, and folk music. Linguists says it originated from Prakrit spoken in the Indo-Gangetic planes of India and drew its grammar from existing tribal languages.

The total number of people who speak Bhojpuri is larger than the combined strength of the speakers of four languages inducted into the list in 2004: Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali. The Vishwa Bhojpuri Sammelan (World Bhojpuri Conference) estimates that approximately 20 crore people speak the language worldwide. It is officially recognised in three countries in the world: Mauritius, Fiji, and Nepal.

Ajit Dubey, national president of the Vishwa Bhojpuri Sammelan, says only when it is included in the National Education Policy will it come into the mainstream. “We need defined parameters to decide which language should be designated as an official language,” he said.