He is no longer seen dabbling in BJD dialectics only. Neither does he masquerade himself as a dilettante or linguist. He is no philistine either. Caught in the sublime frenzy as unleashed by a galaxy of luminaries like Fakir Mohan, Radhanath, Madhusudan, he has tried to follow them from where they had left. Baisnab Parida, a Rajya Sabha member, along with some others, has mingled with Odia population and Odishan diaspora to usher in an era of renaissance of the Odia language by making it more vibrant and living in our day-to-day life. In an interview with Sugyan Choudhury of The Pioneer, he exhorts the insulated intellectuals to return to their roots for heralding a picture of rejuvenated and resplendent Odia language, which has recently gained classical status.
What prompted you to form the “Save Odia” MovementIJ
I have steered the movement which gained momentum since the year 2005. Fakir Mohan Senapati, the father of modern Odia literature, said that one’s mother language is the blood and soul of a people, a nation. It is transmitted from the present generation to generations yet unborn. A language becomes a living language when its written forms and speech are extensively used. But you know pretty well that in the border areas of our State our language as a speaking one has considerably waned owing to larger infiltration of languages like Hindi, Bengali and Telugu, etc, etc. Besides, extensive use of English language has put Odia in a corner today.
Other States of India have passed their respective official language Acts and got English replaced by their own mother tongues. In Odisha, this thing happened at a later stage in the year 1954 when Nabakrushna Choudury was the Chief Minister. The bureaucrats were opposed to this Bill in real spirit; so, it could not come to vogue. In 1985, the then Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik tried to work it out and partially succeeded in making Odia the State’s official language. But it is a matter of shame, sorrow and anguish that till today Odia is not extensively and exhaustively used in the fields of administration, judiciary, schools and colleges and trade and commerce, thereby making it appear as moribund.
It is to be mentioned here that excessive use of other languages in our daily speeches will make our language lose its vitality. Take for example, today if an average Odia uses 20 per cent of alien languages in his speech, the second generation may use 40 per cent while the third generation may use 70 per cent of his speech with alien languages, thereby making his own mother tongue Odia as weak and forlorn. In this process, there will be a gradual decline in the language leading to its total extinction one day!
Therefore, I would agree to the views of Fakir Mohan that a language becomes a living one as a language used by men speaking to men if it’s written and speech voices are exploited to the full.
Another cause which concerns us is that in the new industrial towns and mining areas Hindi and English are dominating the scene. Our own people are often using Hindi in spite of their own Odia language. In the process, the younger generation has no point in being attracted towards the use of Odia. Moreover, with the entrance of private entrepreneurs and players to the educational scenario, English medium schools have registered a mushroom growth, giving utmost importance to English and Hindi as their speaking languages. Our middleclass societies are very much keen in sending their children to English medium schools since the language of administrative service examinations and other examinations is English. Thus, our future generations are gradually insulated from the Odia national mainstream. It is a matter of pity that in Government schools where 95 per cent of the students are Odia, no posts for Odia teachers are allowed. This is a delicate thing, but it is dangerous to be ignored.
All these factors impelled me to form the Save Odia Movement, which has been gaining momentum every passing day.
What is the specific aim of this movementIJ
This movement has a two-pronged approach. First is our clarion call to use Odia language in one’s personal life or family life and in day-to-day social life. The second approach is to put pressure on the State Government to make use of the Official language Act 1954 in letter and spirit aiming at a renaissance of wonder for the Odia population of our State and for the Odia diaspora.
What were the prime considerations behind Odia language occupying the classical statusIJ
Our language has all the symbols of a living language, having 2,000 years of hoary antiquity behind it. The magnificent inscriptions of Dhauli and Khandagiri bear use of Odia alphabets along with Palli. Besides, the Sixth and Seventh Century composition of Buddhist Doha in Odia unmistakably points to our long traditions. A complete Mahabharata written by Sarala Das in the 14th Century also bears ample testimony to our age-old language. That is why a committee of experts in all its collective wisdom granted Odia its long overdue classical language status.
What is your call to the intellectuals of the StateIJ
Mostly, middleclass people are the intellectuals who are the pioneers behind each and every movement, but it pains me much to observe that our intellectual elites are gradually getting insulated from the Odia national life. Most of them pretend that they are White men-turned-brown over the centuries of the tropical sun and fumble Odia phonetics like a Tokyo crow.
There is no enthusiasm noticeable in our society owing to such an attitude by the middleclass although we have received our classical status. Unless a language is used by all sections of people like other Indian languages by their cultural milieu, the gaining of classical status becomes a meaningless affair.
Do you promote regionalism and regional languages onlyIJ
India is a multilingual country with a composite culture. India was formed on the basis of languages. Along with Hindi, we consider all the regional languages as National. We want all languages to be protected, preserved and developed, besides allowing our doors and windows to be left open to other continental languages and literatures since we are now living in a global village. But all these things should not take place at the cost of our own mother language. Odia should be developed as a computer language like the language of other developed nations to attract our future generations and this should be well nigh connected with the language of life, living and employment.