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A woman makes fun of Kolkata Metro commuters for speaking Bangla. LOOK

A woman makes fun of Kolkata Metro commuters for speaking Bangla. LOOK

In further evidence of poor knowledge of India’s official languages, a woman on the Kolkata subway mocked Bengali passengers for not knowing Hindi. “Aapko India mein reh kar Hindi nahi aata (Living in India, you don’t know Hindi)? You are in India. You are not in Bangladesh,” she is heard saying in the video, which has now gone viral.

Another woman can be heard saying: “I live in West Bengal; This is my state; this is my metro, built with my taxes, not yours… You cannot insult me ​​or call me a Bangladeshi.” Then the Hindi speaking woman says, “West Bengal is in India. Therefore, people should speak Hindi, the language of India.”

Other passengers appeared to be angered by the dispute and asked the women to get off the train and find a peaceful solution to the dispute. However, they refuse and continue to argue.

The video was recorded on a Bengali woman’s phone, which annoys the other woman. A Hindi-speaking woman even threatens to sue a Bengali woman for “recording without consent.” “You will go to jail,” she says and continues to mock.

This apparently irks other passengers who criticize the Hindi-speaking woman for allegedly calling Bengalis Bangladeshis for not speaking Hindi.

This was not an isolated incident. User X, Abhinaba Pal, shared a video of another similar incident.

Language debate in India

The language debate has been raging in India for decades. Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray is known for his desire to get people from outside the state to learn Marathi. This issue has also gained relevance in Karnataka, where many conflicts have arisen among the public over the use of Kannada against English and Hindi. A week rarely goes by without a video of a Kannada-speaking person arguing with another person from outside the state going viral.

Is there a national language in India?

India has no national language. Although Hindi is a widely spoken language, it is NOT the national language. A total of 22 languages ​​have been given the status of recognized languages ​​in India under the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

According to the Official Languages ​​Act 1963, Hindi and English are the official languages ​​of India. This means that these two channels can be used for all official government, administrative and judicial communications. The Constitution does not contain provisions for any preferential treatment for languages.