He had his post-graduation in political science with an llB degree to his credit from the Calcutta University. He had obtained his MPhil degree from the Moscow University. He abandoned all temptations for lucrative government jobs as he preferred public life being initiated into Communist ideologies. He came back to Odisha from Moscow and had his brief stint in the Congress. Thereafter, he formed the Samajwadi Party State unit. Then, he joined the BJD bandwagon and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2010.
Today, Baishnab Parida’s name has almost become synonymous with the Bhasa Andolan, of which he is the pioneer. He wages a war demanding preservation, propagation and protection of the Odia language. He discovers that there is a conspiracy of the shenanigans of the Government to exterminate the language by promoting English medium education in the name of Model Schools. In an interview to The Pioneer, Parida spoke to Sugyan Choudhury.
What are the objectives of your Bhasha AndolanIJ
Odia language is the identity of Odisha. Odisha was formed as a separate State on the basis of language after a great deal of struggle. Gandhiji also wanted to promote regional languages at the State level while promoting Hindi at the national scenario. In Odisha, we had English as the State’s language even after 1936 when our State was formed. In 1954, veteran freedom fighter, Gandhian leader and the then Chief Minister Nabakrushna Choudhury promulgated the Odisha Official language Act 1954, but the same has not yet been implemented. That is why we have founded the Odisha Bhasa Andolan. The State Government has not taken any active interest to execute the Act. Odia language being deprived of its use in offices, business houses, courts of law. In a democracy, the language of the State should be the language of the majority people. If the language is not used by the masses, the distance between the rulers and the ruled gets wider. When young men and women find that Odia is not the language of their livelihoods, they are turning volte face to it. Besides, in western Odisha the predominance of Hindi is felt while in southern Odisha Telugu is dominating. In northern side, Odia dominated by Bengali. Our upper middle class is using a curious mixture of Odia, English and Hindi. In electronic media too, there is an amalgamation of Odia, Hindi and English. There were attempts to badly maul our language by introducing Bengali as the official language here, but luminaries like Fakir Mohan, Madhusudan Das, Gourishankar Ray rose against it and proved that Odia has a great history behind it having a special status all through the ages. But now, the Government’s action against the language is difficult to understand. There are no Odia teachers in Government schools. Sports teachers, geography teachers are taking Odia classes without knowing the grammar. This is the sorry state of affair which has brought the Odia nation to a state of nightmare. The sad tale of the language does not end here. The State Government is now on a spree for opening of Model Schools (Adarsha Vidyalayas) by banishing Odia language, which appears nothing short of a conspiracy to belittle Odia. It is like adding insult to injury!
Whether it is a political movement or a cultural awakeningIJ
We have travelled extensively throughout the State to convince people that their language is dying. In 2012, we intensified the movement. In July 2014, for a whole day, we convened a meeting, convincing people that they should build pressure on the Government to introduce Odia in education, trade and commerce, Government offices, courts of law so that their language would become a vibrant one. Some people characterised this as a political movement, but we negated it by maintaining that this is an apolitical endeavour. We convinced the Chief Minister that it is never a movement against him or the Government. We four crore Odias want our language to be a living language.
What have you gained from your efforts over these last four yearsIJ
Save Odia language is the concern of the common man. It also holds all political parties equally responsible for implementation of the 1954 language Act. When we convince people that their language is dying, they all responded. One lakh people wrote in postcards to the Chief Minister demanding for implementation of the Act. The Government also responded by forming a Ministerial committee of five members to look into the matter. But after four or five months, we observed that there was a slack in the activities of the Government. Hence, we observed November 23 as the Bhasa Divas as it happens to be the birthday of the father of the language Act Nabakrushna Choudhury. Thousands of people held dharnas throughout the State and sent their memorandums to the Chief Minister through their district Collectors for implementation of the language Act. There seems to have been a cultural awakening. This is no mean achievement.
What’s your observation regarding the plan for Model SchoolsIJ
The announcement of the State Government to this effect has come to us like a bolt from the blue. It is like adding insult to injury. When the Government displays its charity like a miser by not appointing Odia teachers in Government schools, how then it has made a strong departure from its cherished goals of establishing Model Schools through the language of Odia medium. You know that in all other States, they have gone for Model Schools with the Central budget in their regional languages. How then our State Government acted in establishing Model Schools through the medium of English, when there is mushrooming of the same type by profit-making private bodies. This amounts to a kind of conspiracy to weaken our mother language.
As a Rajya Sabha member from the BJD, have you not ever thought it appropriate to have a discussion on Model Schools with your party supremo Naveen PatnaikIJ Is it in consonance with your party disciplineIJ
We have protested against this concept of Model Schools in English medium through Press conferences. We will also enter into a dialogue with the Chief Minister. Regarding party discipline, I should say one should not go by the dictum “Anyone who is not in favour of me is against me”. I consider Odia language as my mother. If anyone, whoever he may be, insults my mother, I cannot simply brook it.