The Khariar Nagarik Manch at a Press meet at Khariar on Saturday protested against naming of Kosli language as Sambalpuri.
In the front page of an Odia newspaper on March 29, a photograph of poet Haldhar Nag accepting Padma Shri award had been published with a caption identifying Nag as “Kosli poet Haldhar Nag”. However, in a news item on the following day, the paper mentioned him as a “Sambalpuri/Kosli poet” and also requested the readers to read the Kosli of the first day publication as Sambalpuri/ Kosli.
The Khariar Nagarik Manch protested the use of Sambalpuri. “Sambalpuri is one of the spoken versions of Kosli language, thus naming of Kosli as Sambalpuri/Kosli is totally wrong,” claimed Ranjeet Singh Maharatha, a proponent of Kosli language.
Manch members said that the language of western Odisha is Kosli and not Sambalpuri. “The Odisha Government has submitted a resolution in 2014 to the Central Government with a request to include Kosli language in the 8th Schedule of our Constitution, and we are sure that our language would be included,” said Irfan Mohommed and Sailendra Panigrahi of the Nagarik Manch.