West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting the recognition of Bengali as a classical language. Banerjee presented a research document fulfilling the criteria set by the Ministry of Home Affairs, claiming that Bengali has roots dating back to the 3rd-4th BCE. As per the Centre’s guidelines, a language must meet some requirements to be declared as ‘classical’. They include the high antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over 1500-2000 years; a body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers; a literary tradition that’s original and not borrowed from another speech community; and being distinct from modern, without discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots. She highlighted that Bengali is the national language of Bangladesh, an official language in West Bengal, the second most spoken language in India, and the seventh most spoken language globally.
Banerjee expressed confidence that PM Modi would appreciate the scholarly work and ensure Bengali receives its due recognition. Currently, only six languages hold the ‘classical’ status in India. They include all the south Indian languages — Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam — and Sanskrit and Odia. Tamil was the first to be accorded the status in 2004, following a long-standing demand by the Dravidian parties, and Odia was included in the list in 2014.