The historic Raj Bhavan here witnessed a celebration of mother tongues on Thursday when governor C.V. Ananda Bose, a Malayali, was initiated into the learning of Bengali by a nine-year-old and then delivered a short message in Bengali, and chief minister Mamata Banerjee complemented his initiative in an address in Malayalam.
Following the tradition, Raj Bhavan had organised a programme for a select audience on the occasion of the Republic Day. But all eyes were on the haathe kkhori (initiation with chalk) — a formal beginning of a child’s education, which is organised on the day of Saraswati Puja — of Bose.
In a short programme, the 71-year-old Bose was initiated into the language by a nine year-old girl by writing two alphabets in Bengali, following which he learnt two Bengali words from two fourth-grade students of the Raj Bhavan-run school.
Bose with a girl during the haathe kkhori programme
“The governor is going to learn Bengali, the mother tongue of the people of Bengal... I wish him all the best. May Goddess Saraswati bless him to be successful in his endeavour,” said Mamata, who oversaw Bose’s initiation into Bengali, in Malayalam.
After each sentence, she was translating the Malayalam content into English for the benefit of the audience, comprising senior officials of armed forces and state government; and representatives of Bengal’s culture clan.
“I have also begun the process of learning Malayalam,” added Mamata, who gave a demonstration of how to write Malayalam alphabets while interacting with reporters after the programme.
The chief minister, who never misses an opportunity to claim her working knowledge in various Indian and even foreign languages, used the occasion to recount how Mahatma Gandhi had tried to learn Bengali. She also told the audience about Raj Bhavan’s former occupant Gopal Krishna Gandhi’s interest in learning Bengali.
As part of her attempt to facilitate the governor’s learning in Bengali, she presented the two-part Barna Parichay, a Bengali primer written by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, to Bose.
“But we should try to learn all languages,” said Mamata, obliquely stressing the need to retain the linguistic diversity of India at a time there are allegations that the BJP led Centre is trying to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states.
The governor, on the other hand, stressed his love for the mother tongue of the people of Bengal.
“I will learn Bengali. Bengali is a beautiful language... I love Bengali and I love the people of Bengal,” said Bose, in his address, which was delivered in Bengali.
Political barbs
Although the Raj Bhavan event ended with both the governor and the chief minister celebrating the triumph of local languages, the BJP went after the state government accusing it of using the programme for political gains.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had been invited to the programme, but he didn’t turn up at Raj Bhavan. In a long post on Twitter, while appreciating Bose’s interest in learning Bengali, Adhikari accused the state government of exploiting it for political posturing.
“At a time when the image of the education department of state government has been tarnished due to the gigantic “cash for job” teacher recruitment scam and the former education minister along with most of the important office bearers are languishing in prison, the state government has cunningly orchestrated this event to wash off the stain,” Adhikari wrote, besides asking questions on the need for such a programme spending tax payer’s money.
Multiple sources in the BJP said the party and its state leaders; including Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar who also skipped the programme, were unhappy with Bose’s apparent bonhomie with the ruling establishment and conveyed their displeasure to the central leadership. Amid the grumblings in the BJP over Bose and his relationship with the state government, especially Mamata, the governor left for Delhi in the evening.
While a section in the BJP said Bose had been summoned by the Union home minister following the state leadership’s complaints against him, a source in the Raj Bhavan said the trip to the capital was pres-scheduled.
Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also said Bose’s Delhi trip was pre-scheduled. He called Adhikari’s no-show at the Raj Bhavan programme “unfair” and condemned his attempts at “politicising” the event.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose also criticised the language initiation programme but didn’t bring any politics to the discourse. Although he was present at Raj Bhavan for the Republic Day get-together and was seen engaging in a long interaction with Bose, he left before the next event began.
“I don’t understand the relevance of haathe kkhori at this age... Certain things should be avoided,” he said.