Nepali speaking locals in Darjeeling, India are protesting against the West Bengal State government's decision to make Bengali language compulsory in secondary level education all over the state.

Two weeks ago, West Bengal State Education Minister Parta Chatterjee had announced the decision to incorporate Bangla language as a compulsory subject across the state.

With this announcement, the students in the state were made to choose Bengali language as the second or third compulsory language out of three optional languages including Bengali, English, Hindi, Nepali, Urdu and Punjabi languages.

Darjeeling locals strongly opposed the State Minister’s announcement.

Meanwhile, with the growing dissent in the popular hill station, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, speaking during a meeting at Mirik in Darjeeling, India on Monday said that Bengali language will not be a compulsory subject in the curriculum rather it will be the fourth optional subject in the hill region.