National
Janakpur residents unhappy with leaders addressing assembly in Hindi
Residents of Janakpur burned effigies of leaders from the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal (SSF-N) and the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) on Tuesday to protest their decision to address the first Provincial Assembly (PA) meeting in Hindi.Residents of Janakpur burned effigies of leaders from the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal (SSF-N) and the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) on Tuesday to protest their decision to address the first Provincial Assembly (PA) meeting in Hindi.
The protesters accused the leaders of ignoring several other local languages, Maithili being chief among them.
When the maiden PA meeting of Province 2 was held in Janakpur on Sunday, SSF-N leader Lalbabu Raut and RJP-N leader Jitendra Sonal had addressed the session in Hindi, much to the anger of Janakpur residents.
“Many protests and movements were launched in the past in the name of identity, but now our leaders seem to have forgotten our mother language. We burnt their effigies as a symbolic protest to warn them,” said Sushil Karna, one of the protesters.
The protesters said Hindu should not get precedence over local languages including Maithili, Bhojpuri and Tharu.
“We cannot tolerate the disrespect to our mother tongue. The leaders blatantly gave priority to a foreign language,” said Bittu Pariyar, another protester.
When Province 2 lawmakers took oath of office last month, 47 lawmakers had used Maithili language, 25 Bhojpuri, 24 Nepali and 11 Hindi. (PR)