By IANS
Raipur : Chhattisgarh’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government Tuesday tabled a long-pending amendment bill in the assembly to grant Chhattisgarhi the status of the state’s official language.
Introducing the Chhattisgarhi Rajbhasa (Amendment) Bill 2007, Culture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said: “The bill is aimed at fulfilling the aspirations of common masses by giving Chhattisgarhi dialect the status of an official language.”
Chief Minister Raman Singh announced at the state foundation day function Nov 1 that Chhattisgarhi, an Indo-Aryan language having almost 12 million speakers across the state, would be granted the official language status.
The state’s main opposition Congress raised objections in the assembly over the current form of bill. Deputy Leader of Opposition Bhupesh Baghel said: “Though the Congress welcomes the bill, it wants the state government to introduce a full-fledged bill instead of an amendment.”