CALCUTTA; Like most South Indian states West Bengal too seems to have joined the anti-Hindi bandwagon State Information Minister Kanti Biswas told reporters at Writers Building last week that attempts to foist Hindi as the Official language would be strongly resisted

The Minister said this before departing for Delhi for attend the parliamentary committee meeting on the subject.

The meeting was conveyed to discuss the possibility of implementing Hindi as the official language in States which had yet to do So.

Biswas said that since the Constitution recognized 17 Indian languages there was no reason why Hindi alone should be promoted.

With English and Hindi serving as the only link languages the development of others had been ignored he said Vermicular was all that they had remained he observed.

How long…do we have to rely on a foreign language like English to express our thoughts why don’t we have the urge to think in one of our own languages he asked emphatically?

Attempts were being made to force Hindi down everybody’s throats but the right atmosphere had yet to be created in non-Hindi speaking states for its acceptance he said.

Such a ham-handed approach alone was giving rise to Separatist tendencies he warned.

Language is not the only issue over which the ruling Marxists have opted to be chauvinistic loose cultural values is the other bugbear.

To counter the vulgar standards being set by some programs beamed by Doordarshan the State Government has decided to accept the Mira Commissions suggestion to buy channel time in case the demand for a local channel is rejected.

The channel time will be used to beam educational programs for the masses

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