Ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly election, a tug of war has broken out between the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the BJP over the demand for the inclusion of the Ho language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Around 25 lakh people in the State, including the Ho tribal population living in the Kolhan region, speak the language.
The war of words between the two parties began after BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday that he, along with members of the Ho community, had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking the inclusion of the language in the Eighth Schedule. Mr. Sarma is one of the election in-charges for Jharkhand, which is scheduled to go to the polls later this year.
“Yesterday (Monday, September 16, 2024), a delegation of the Ho community met Amit Shah ji. I was also present along with [former BJP MP] Geeta Koda ji. It was a positive talk and the delegation demanded the inclusion of Ho language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Amit Shah ji assured us that he will try his level best to give the language constitutional recognition,” Mr. Sarma told reporters in Ranchi.
In the morning, Mr. Sarma posted a message on social media platform X saying that for many years, the families of the tribal Ho community living in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam had been demanding that the language (Warang Kshiti script) be included in the Eighth Schedule. He also stressed that the Modi government was committed to preserving the culture of every society in the country.
Hemant Soren’s letter
Hitting back at the BJP, the JMM shared on X a four-year-old letter written by Chief Minister Hemant Soren to Mr. Shah demanding the same.
The letter dated August 21, 2020, was addressed to Mr. Shah with the subject ‘Request to include Mundari, Ho, Oraon/Kuduk language in the Eighth Schedule. In the letter, Mr. Soren said these languages were largely spoken by the various tribes of Jharkhand. The State government was committed to taking all necessary measures for the development of these languages, he said.
The letter also said that since these languages had a rich ethnic and phylogenetic vocabulary, their inclusion in the Eighth Schedule would provide an opportunity for these languages to develop and flourish further, and contribute to enriching the composite culture of our country.
Among the four languages, Santhali had been included in the Eight Schedule. No decision had been taken on the remaining three, Mr. Soren said.
“It has been more than four years since a letter was written to the Central government by Chief Minister Hemant Soren for inclusion of Ho, Mundari, Kuduk/Oraon languages in the Eighth Schedule. When will the anti-Jharkhand BJP Central government wake up? The BJP Central government has also had a very sluggish attitude on the demand for Sarna tribal religion code [separate religious code for tribal communities],” the JMM wrote on X.
Champai Soren’s demand
On Monday, former Jharkhand Chief Minister and BJP leader Champai Soren also demanded the same in a letter to Mr. Shah. Mr. Champai later thanked Mr. Sarma for taking the initiative and Mr. Shah for listening to the demand.
“This news has brought a wave of happiness to the tribal Ho community. I am confident that this dream of millions of people of the community will soon come true,” Mr. Champai posted on X.
Published - September 17, 2024 09:15 pm IST
