Akela
A Right to Information (RTI) activist Manoranjan Roy has filed a PIL in Bombay High Court on Wednesday asking what is the actual status of Hindi language in Country ? Roy has also urged to the Court to issue a direction to the Union Government to declare the status and also to rename the country as ‘Bharat’ instead of ‘India’.
PIL copy is available with ABI.
Speaking to ABI, Roy said, “I expressed concern with the dual name of the country viz ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’. The country should be known as ‘Bharat’ and citizenship as ‘Bhartiya.” Roy argues that just as an individual cannot have two names. The country also cannot be called by two different names viz India, Bharat or Hindustan.
“When Britishers ruled the country, its name was changed from ‘Bharat’ to ‘India’. After Independence, it continued to be known as India. The country should be called as ‘Bharat’ which is its original name,” Roy added.
Earlier Roy had received a reply (copy available with ABI) from Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi stating that under the provisions of the Indian Constitution, Hindi was the official language of the Union although there was no provision for National language in the constitution.
This is shocking that some text books term Hindi as ‘official language.’ Others call it ‘Raj bhasha’ (State language) or ‘Rashtra Bhasha’ (National language). Some books even refer to Hindi as “Sampark” Bhasha (contact language).” The Government should clear this ambiguity in the school text books and declare what is the actual status of
Hindi language.
PIL argues that as the name of the country was concerned, the government replied that no such information was available with the department.