For all Gorkha Nepali people living in India, August 20 is among the most important days of the year. The 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution formally recognized Nepali as one of the official languages on August 20, 1992. Because of this, August 20 is recognised as “Bhasha Manyata Diwas” or simply “Bhasha Diwas” every year.
Since the Nepali community in India and Nepal share a common language, culture, and heritage, it is usual for people to mistake them for outsiders. For the Nepali population living in India, this ambiguity has long remained and has been a significant source of social injustice. The Maitri Treaty, which opened the international boundaries for the inhabitants of both countries and allowed them to cross the other side of the border without any travel limitations for work or education, further added to the uncertainty on July 31, 1950.
Anand Singh Thapa, the editor of Jagat Gorkha, and his colleagues Narendra Singh Rana and Bir Bahadur Bhandari submitted a memorandum to President Shri Rajendra Prasad in 1956, seeking that the Nepali language be given constitutional recognition. Demand was initially felt in Dehradun before spreading to Darjeeling, Sikkim, and other northeastern regions. The West Bengal Official Language Act, which was passed in 1961, recognised Nepali as one of the state’s official languages.
The Nepali Sahitya Sammelan in Darjeeling organised a group of 25 people in 1970 and sent them off right away for a meeting with the president, the prime minister, and the home minister. Dr. Parasmani Pradhan, a well-known author and poet, served as one of the group’s key members. He published books with titles such as “A Short History of Nepali Language and Literature,” “An Explanation of Nepali Language and Literature,” “The Origin of Nepali Language and Progress,” and “Nepali Language in the Eighth Schedule.” The Nepali Bhasha Salaahkaar Samiti, a group of ten members, was created by the Sahitya Academy in 1976, after all of these publications were given there. Notable members of the group were Parasmani Pradhan, Indra Bahadur Rai, and Hari Prasad Gorkha Rai.
Comrade Ratanlal Bhramin won the Darjeeling Constituency general elections in 1971. On March 22, 1971, there were protests against him because he wanted to swear an oath as a Sansad Member in Nepali but was barred from doing so. The Nepali Bhasha Samiti, afterwards known as the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Bhasha Samiti, was founded on January 3, 1972. The major goal of this organisation, which had its headquarters in Darjeeling, was to unite all national, cultural, intellectual, spiritual, social, and other organisations. All organisations were asked to write a formal letter to the prime minister requesting that Nepali be included to the list of official languages under the Constitution’s eighth schedule. The West Bengal Vidhan Sabha enacted the first-ever bill pertaining to the issue on July 2, 1977. On June 28th, 1978, it crossed through Tripura, and on September 22nd, 1982, it passed into Sikkim.
The then-chief minister of Sikkim, Late Nar Bahadur Bhandari, promised that he would fight for the cause and do everything in his power, but the demand was not met despite all of the efforts. In 1983, protests and hunger strikes took place in several parts of Delhi as a result of Indira Gandhi and her Congress government ignoring the demand. As time went on, the revolutionaries began to lose hope, and on June 11 and 12, 1990, the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Bhasha Sammelan met for two days in Gangtok, Sikkim. A new government organisation called the Bharatiya Nepali Rashtriya Parishad was established at the conference under the direction of Nar Bahadur Bhandari. The biggest factor remained the same: a desire for Nepali language recognition under the eighth schedule of the constitution. He elevated the Bhasha Andolan and travelled to New Delhi to win the backing of several lawmakers.
Read more about The Sikkim Revolutionary Man : Nar Bahadur Bhandari
The governments continued switching, but no one listened to Parishad’s request. However, the general elections in 1991 marked a turning point in the andolan for Dil Kumari Bhandari, the spouse of Nar Bahadur Bhandari, who went on to win and become a Member of Parliament from Sikkim. On April 24 and May 8, the Parliament held a thorough discussion on a private bill she had introduced.
After years of struggle, the Andolan eventually saw the light on August 20, 1992, when the Nepali, Manipuri, and Konkani languages were recognised by the Indian constitution’s eighth schedule. The Indian Constitution’s 71st Amendment was announced in a notification that was published on September 1st, 1992, in the Nepali language.
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