Linguists in the city today demanded that the Centre should not include Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution as it will harm Hindi's prospects, while supporters of Bhojpuri defended the move saying it was time to protect their dialect and posed no threat to Hindi.
Bhojpuri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand region of North India and in some parts of Nepal.
Speaking at a panel discussion organised by the Mumbai Press Club, former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari, said, "If Bhojpuri is included in the Eighth Schedule, then Hindi will be a bigger loser as an official language, besides a new Bhasha-war (language war) will begin and demand for a separate states may surface."
Once a dialect or language is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, it becomes eligible to be used in education, government and other official contexts.
"English is already occupying the position of communication language and if Hindi is further weakened, then it is not a good sign for our country," said Dharmadhikari.
Echoing Dharmadhikari's viewpoint, Karuna Upadhyay, head of the Hindi Department at Mumbai University, said, "If Bhojpuri dialect is included in the Eighth Schedule it will dent efforts to make Hindi an official language of the United Nations."
Through our social media campaign 'Hindi Bachao Manch', we are opposing inclusion of anyone of 38 dialects related to Hindi language to be included in the Eighth Schedule.
"Though any effort to promote the language or dialect is a welcome move, government must take care of its side-effects," Upadhyay said, adding, if all the dialects are given the status of language then by 2050, English will be overtaken by Hindi.
Former additional chief secretary of Maharashtra and founder president of Vishwa Bhojpuri Sammelan, Satish Tripathi, however, said inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule, does not have anything to do with Hindi's prospectus.
Tripathi said, "I am a staunch Hindi supporter. I don't forsee any backlash on it if Bhojpuri is included in the Eighth Schedule. Rather we should stand up to protect the sanctity of Hindi, which right now, has been hijacked by the preponderance of English words and Hindi has become Hinglish."
Senior officer-bearer of Mumbai Press Club O P Tiwari moderated the session, which was attended by Hindi scholars and academicians.
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