Maithili poet Dhirendra Premarshi alleged that Madhesi parties were not serious toward the promotion of local languages and culture. “They [Madhesi parties] have not yet published any political document in Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi and Tharu languages,” said Premarshi. [break]
Premarshi maintained that Madhes-based parties seem to be promoting Hindi language instead of local Madhesi language. “Though Hindi is not a Madhesi language Madheshi parties have become advocate of it,” he added.
Madheshi intellectuals accuse Rajendra Mahato-led Sadbhavana Party (SP) of being a strong advocate of Hindi in Madhes, going against the general sentiment of people living in the region. So much so that the SP had even appealed to Madhesi people to name Hindi as their mother tongue during the recent census held in 2011.
Awadhi poet Hanshavati Kurmi also accused Madhesi parties of being advocate of Hindi language and American culture. “They are merely advocates of Hindi as their entire political documents are published in Hindi,” she said. “They are paralyzing Awadhi and other regional language of Madhes.”
Madhesi intellectuals and writers argue that Madhes-based parties have lost any ground for claiming to be regional parties as they have never worked toward promoting local culture, tradition and language.
Krishna Raj Sarvahari, who is a commentator of Tharu language, argued that Tharu language and culture also did not receive any attention of both the government and regional political parties. “Nepal Academy is also not serious toward our language and culture as it has published just one book in Tharu so far,” said Sarvahari.
Political analyst Chandra Kishore says the main mandate of Madhes movement was to promote local languages and culture but Madhesi parties failed to work toward that end. “They carry out wall paintings, put up hording boards and organize different programs at district level in regional languages, but they publish their manifestoes and other documents only in Hindi.”
But political parties refute the accusations made by the Madhesi intellectuals and analysts.
General Secretary of Sadbhavana Party Manish Suman said his party was serious toward the development and promotion of local languages of Tarai. “We hold party functions in local languages. But we are advocating for Hindi as it is a link language here in Tarai-Madhes,” he said while insisting that they have been publishing pamphlets and carrying out wall paintings in regional languages.
Vice Chairman of Madhesi People´s right Forum-Democratic Rameshwar Raya Yadav claimed that his party holds regional languages in high regard. “Hindi is our language,” claimed Yadav, maintaining, “Can we term Nepali an Indian language just because it is also spoken in India?” he asked. “We want Hindi to be the second language of Nepal.”
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