IMPHAL, Feb 20: The People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) has sent universal greetings on the occasion of International Mother Language Day tomorrow.
In a press release issued today, the party recounted the relation between the inception of the observance and spirit of revolutionary struggle. Three persons became martyrs and scores of Bangladeshis were injured in the clamp down by Pakistani authorities on protestors demanding the recognition of Bangla as an official language on February 21, 1952. Though their demand was accepted and Bangla became an official language four years later, the nationalism kindled by the language stir rouse the people of East Pakistan to revolt and Bangladesh became a full republic in 1971, it stated. Ultimately, at the 30th general conference of UNESCO, it was officially declared that February 21 will be observed as International Mother Language Day.
The release reminded that half of the 6000 languages used by people in 188 nations throughout the globe are on the verge of extinction. At an average 10 of them are disappearing from the face of the earth each year. In India, 33 of the 1652 found are spoken by more than one lakh people each.
It stated that under the suppressive rule of India the native language of Manipur, Kanglei Lon, has been treading a path of decline. Kanglei Lon once occupied the position of a potent language for communication during common activities and social interaction among the different communities of Manipur. However, the economic and political changes brought by assimilation into the Indian union, which were India centric, led to the deterioration of the language. Inclination towards learning Hindi and English language at the cost of the local languages became popular among the higher classes. More over, inter-community frictions and incitement of negative feelings against the majority community heightened the slide, which went unnoticed by the administration, the release stated.
The outfit stated that the revival of the mother tongues of different communities of Manipur can foster mutual respect and enhance inter-community bond and promote unity in the state. We should follow the aged-old philosophy that language and scripts are our mother and father figures.