Darjeeling municipality will rename a road in Darjeeling after Indra Bahadur Rai, one of the pillars of modern Nepali literature, as part of Bhasha Diwas celebrations on August 20.

The Darjeeling municipality and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), governed by political rivals Hamro Party and Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), respectively, have decided to shed their political differences after initial reluctance and jointly celebrate the occasion this year.On August 20, 1992, Nepali language had been included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution after an over four-decade-old struggle.

Dipen Thakuri, a ward councillor in the Darjeeling municipality, said: “A proposal was made by GTA Sabha member Robert Chhetri to the Darjeeling municipality to name a road after Dr I.B. Rai. We decided to name Lower Tungsoong Road near Chowrasta after the legendary figure.”The road will be officially named on Bhasha Diwas.Rai was born on February 27, 1927, at Balasun in Darjeeling and passed away in 2018. He left an indelible mark not just with his writings on a range of issues but also his active role in the movement for recognition of Nepali language in the Indian Constitution.Highly regarded as a novelist, short story writer, essayist and a literary critic, he won the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Jagadambarshri Puraskar and the Agam Singh Giri Smriti Puraskar, among other awards. Rai published his first literary work, Vipana Katipaya, in 1960. His last published work was Pachila Chuniya Ka Lekh Haru, which he completed a few months before his death in 2018.