Marathi, Bengali Among 5 Languages To Get 'Classical' Status

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the conferral of ‘Classical Language’ status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali.

With this new addition, the total number of languages with Classical Language status will nearly double from six to eleven. The languages that already had this status were Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“This is a historical decision and this decision goes very well with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government’s philosophy of taking ride in our culture, taking pride in our heritage and taking pride in all the Indian languages and the rich heritage that we have,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a cabinet briefing.

Soon after the announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to the social media platform X and expressed his government’s strong commitment to popularising regional languages.

“Our Government cherishes and celebrates India’s rich history and culture. We have also been unwavering in our commitment to popularising regional languages,” Modi said.

“Each of them are beautiful languages, highlighting our vibrant diversity. Congratulations to everyone,” he emphasised.

‘Exemplifies Assam’s unique civilisational roots’: Himanta 

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also took to X to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Cabinet for granting Classical Language status to Assamese.

“On behalf of the people of Assam, I extend my gratitude to Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji and the entire Union Cabinet for the historic decision to accord Assamese the status of Classical Language. Assamese joins a select group of languages to enjoy this status,” Sarma said his post.

He added: “This exemplifies the unique civilisational roots of Assam that has withstood the test of time. With today’s decision we shall be able to better preserve our beloved mother tongue, that not only unites our society but also forms an unbroken link to the ancient wisdom of Assam’s saints, thinkers, writers and philosophers.”

‘Had been trying to snatch this recognition..’: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also welcomed the Central Government’s decision to include Bengali as a classical language.

“Most happy to share that Bengali/ Bangla has been finally accorded the status of a classical language by Government of India. We had been trying to snatch this recognition from Ministry of Culture, GOI and we had submitted three volumes of research findings in favour of our contention,” Banerjee said in an X post.

“Union government has accepted our well-researched claim today evening and we finally reach the cultural apex in the body of languages in India,” Bengal CM added.