In the beginning of the year, the Kolkata Literary Meet-2013, held as part of the book fair, brought together over 50 speakers from India and abroad to celebrate the spirit of literature and the culture of reading.

The focal theme of the event was Bangladesh. It spanned over five days and included some rare conversations in Bangla, to discuss the future of the language we share with Bangladesh and its remarkable literature with impressive representations from Kolkata and Dhaka.

It, however, failed to recall, even for once, a very significant and poignant event for the recognition of Bangla Bhasa that took place on May 19, 1961 in Silchar, Assam, when 11 people became martyrs. It is indeed not surprising because the intelligentsia and literati of Kolkata have neither any love left for Bangla Bhasa nor the inclination , to antagonize the power that be, for such a cause. Such lack of courage is also evident in the way the most important reason for the decline in use of the language, that is, the imposition of Hindi, was also not mentioned at all during the discussions.

English Imperialism had impacted Indian languages in only a limited way mainly because English is not an Indian language and it was imposed English by and large only in the sphere of official communication. But Hindi is an Indian language and it is being now used more and more in all spheres of communication, including commercial, educational and cultural. Money is flowing from the centre’s coffers to support deliberate expansion of Hindi at the cost of other Indian languages. For example, Hindi conferences are regularly organised in overseas countries and parliamentary delegations visit Indian embassies abroad to scrutinise implementation of Official Languages Act.

The domination by Hindi in the educational and cultural sphere in Bengal has been such that students prefer to learn Hindi rather than Bangla. In this connection, liberal grants are given for Hindi teaching in schools and colleges. Auto-drivers and bus-conductors have started speaking Hindi. Signboards and posters are now mostly in Hindi and English. The blaring mikes dole us mostly the Bollywood songs. In official and commercial sphere, Bangla is totally absent. Market for Bangla literature, poetry, play and cinema is dwindling.

Sandip Bandyopadhyay in his article, 'Who Neglected Bangla Anyway', (www.frontierindia.scriptmania.com) said, “… But as in everyday communication, so in intellectual discourse, language in West Bengal has become a sort of Banglish which is neither Bangla, nor English in terms of correct usage. Even in the case of written Bangla, the language of the official monographs, textbooks, teachers' manuals etc is often substandard. We have not yet been able to achieve uniformity in spelling rules and the result is that children are exposed to different spellings of the same words in different books. Even the Govt. publications do not always follow a uniform rule.” Sandip also wrote that "the specimens, of ‘joyful’ rhymes given in the guidebook for the teachers are an assault on the Bengali language. Another guidebook written by the Director, SCERT has every page fraught with spelling errors.”

What is of more concern is that now Bangla words are getting more and more replaced by Hindi words. Sannata, Dosti, Payre, Mehefil, Kurbani, Sunsan, Dekhbal, Dhamaka, Lagatar and many such words have entered common Bangla vocabulary. Although Bangla has its own vast storehouse of rich vocabulary, Bangla newspapers and periodicals often indulge in promoting use of these and other Hindi words. Even Bangla films are sometimes now made with names in Hindi like Diwana

Rajshekhar Basu wrote in his essay Bangla Bhasar Goti- Englisher Probhab, in Bichinta, Parasuram Granthaboli that (translated into English) acquiring from other languages is ok. But if we replace our words by foreign words, then we indicate our poverty of expression and distort our language.

In this state of despair, a few saving graces remain in the form of Desh (magazine) and Tara Music (TV channel). Desh, Boi Shankhya 2013, is an excellent issue on review of recent likeable books; and in fact all its issues have been giving us glimpses of the development of the Bangla Bhasa and culture over last so many years. There was an adorable program on the morning of  February 9 on Tara Music, of songs and recitation by Kalikaprasad and Robishankar, respectively which brought forth how entwined the Bangalees are with the Bangla Bhasa. There also, it was recalled with much sadness how the whole Bhasa movement remained forgotten all through in West Bengal. And similarly enchanting was its musical tribute through Shubhaprasad and Dana to the Bhasha Dibas on February 21. The channel, recently, almost went into oblivion being a part of the infamous Sharada group but for the timely temporary management takeover by state government

Low self-esteem, aping ways and manners of West and Bollywood, withering of creativity has been the scenario of West Bengal for quite some time. Thankfully, Tara Music and Desh continue to challenge the all pervasive decay of the Bangla Bhasa and culture in West Bengal. Of late, Robibaroari of Aai Samay has joined this commendable effort. But, alas, such limited efforts are likely to be swamped by the ever-swelling flood of official patronage for Hindi.
 
A child picks up its mother tongue as a fish takes to water. Effortless ease   is the most important requirement for effective communication; and it comes with the communicator's command over the medium of expression. So if it is one's own tongue, then the first step for effective communication is achieved. Moreover, it would be a pity indeed if the treasures of Bangla language remain closed to the Bangalees of West Bengal for their ignorance of the language.  It is hoped that they will strive to protect and preserve their language. However, about 22 crore people globally speak Bangla and it is the 4th highest spoken language. So Bangla will survive and flourish even if 6 crore people in West Bengal do not endeavor for it. (www.abasar.net/language.htm)