Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Tuesday laid bare the hollowness of the BJP’s newfound love for ‘Odia asmita’ (Odia pride) by exposing the Central government led by BJP not allocating a single penny for the development and promotion of Odia since its declaration as a classical language.
“The Central government has not allocated any money for the Odia language despite it being declared a classical language. Through Question/Answer in the Parliament, we have come to know that the Central government has allocated grants to other classical languages like Tamil, Sanskrit, etc. While Sanskrit has been given the highest allocation, not a pie has been allocated for Odia in the last ten years,” informed Amar Patnaik, BJD national spokesperson addressing a presser at BJD headquarters-Sankha Bhawan here today.
Patnaik pointed out that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik after getting approval at a Ministerial level meeting wrote twice to the Central government for according classical status to Odissi music. The matter was also raised in the Parliament but the Central government has not acted on it and Odissi music is yet to get the classical status tag, he stated.
He also cited that the Central government did not recognize the ‘Paika rebellion’ of 1817 as India’s first war of independence. This shows the hollowness of their love for Odia’s pride, he added.
Quoting from the 20th Naveen Guarantee in the BJD’s manifesto–Bhasa Hi Bhavisyata-Language And Culture (Language is the future), Patnaik said that a sum of Rs 100 crore will be provisioned for the promotion of Odia language and to take it forward into the digital age.
He said Odia University at Satyabadi shall be made the number one language university in the country by 2034. An international Journal of Odia Studies will be published every year both in print and digital wherein articles, poems, etc will be published, he added.
