Congress Alleges Bias in Classical Language Criteria Amid Marathi Recognition Debate

The Congress party has accused the government of changing the criteria for classical language classification, suspecting it as an attempt to prevent Marathi from being recognized. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh highlighted past efforts to obtain this status for Marathi and criticized the current administration for lack of clarity on the revised criteria.

The Congress on Tuesday accused the government of altering the criteria for classical language classification. The party questioned if this move was an attempt to prevent Marathi from gaining recognition as a classical language.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, cited a report from The Hindu indicating that the central government plans to tweak the process for awarding the classical language tag. He reiterated that the Indian National Congress has been demanding Marathi be declared a classical language for over a decade. Ramesh pointed out that during Manmohan Singh's tenure as Prime Minister, six languages were given classical status, while none have been recognized under the current government.

Ramesh also noted the lack of clarity on the new criteria and procedure, voicing concerns over Maharashtra's need to resubmit its application. He questioned whether this change was a retaliatory act following the NDA's poor performance in the Lok Sabha Elections and critiqued the selective financial support for Sanskrit over other classical languages.

(With inputs from agencies.)