00:00Nepali is a foreign language and those speaking it should go to Nepal.
00:06These were the words of Raj Shekhar, a first semester MCOM student at Sikkim University.
00:11Remarks that not only triggered outrage but also got him arrested.
00:14He has since apologized.
00:16But in Sikkim, those words cut deep because Nepali isn't foreign here.
00:20It's a language that binds people together, the common tongue across this Himalayan state.
00:24FYI, Sikkim was an independent kingdom until 1975.
00:28When it became India's 22nd state, Nepali played a crucial role in shaping its identity with the Indian Union.
00:34For many, language became proof of belonging.
00:37And in 1992, Nepali was recognized by the Indian constitution added to the 8th schedule.
00:42That recognition didn't come easily.
00:44It was the result of the Bhasha Andolan, led in parliament by Dilkumari Bhandari, Sikkim's first woman MP.
00:50She was also the wife of Nar Bahadur Bhandari, the state's then Chief Minister.
00:54And today, August 28th, is Nepali Bhasha Sammandivas.
00:58A day that honors that struggle.
01:00Leaders from the Sikkim and the Gorka community fought hard through the 1980s and early 1990s to secure Nepali as one of India's 22 constitutional languages.
01:09So when someone calls it foreign, it's not just ignorance.
01:12On a day like this, it feels like an attack on pride, history and identity.
Be the first to comment