The push for granting “official language” status to Bhojpuri, recognised as the most widely spoken dialect in Bihar, is intensifying as the opposition coalition Mahagathbandhan rallies behind the cause.

Senior leaders from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and CPI(ML) Liberation have announced plans to raise this issue in Parliament.

This renewed demand follows the Union Cabinet’s recent decision to bestow classical language status on five additional languages—Marathi, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit, and Assamese—bringing the total number of classical languages in India to 11. Earlier, Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia received the same recognition.

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CPI(ML) Liberation’s Lok Sabha MP Sudama Prasad highlighted that Bhojpuri is widely spoken in districts such as Bhojpur, Rohtas, Kaimur, Buxar, Saran, East and West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, and Jehanabad in Bihar, as well as in several parts of Jharkhand. “Why is the Centre silent on inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution?” he questioned, noting that the Eighth Schedule currently recognizes 22 languages, with 14 included initially and eight added later.

The Ministry of Home Affairs reports that there are demands for the inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule, with Bhojpuri among them. Prasad urged the Nitish Kumar government to submit a detailed report to the central government requesting the official language status for Bhojpuri. “We will raise this issue in the upcoming session of Parliament,” he added.

RJD’s Buxar MP Sudhakar Singh criticised both the NDA government in Bihar and at the Centre for neglecting Bhojpuri-speaking people.“We (Mahagathbandhan) demand immediate inclusion of Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution so that it gets official language status. Earlier, we raised this issue in the state assembly, but the Nitish Kumar government has turned a deaf ear towards it,” said the RJD MP.

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Senior Congress leader and MLA Sanjay Kumar Tiwary alias Munna Tiwary emphasised that this demand reflects one of the oldest aspirations of Bhojpuri speakers. “Scheduled status brings certain advantages to a language. It makes it mandatory for the government to take measures for the development of a scheduled language so that it grows and becomes an effective means of communication in due course of time,” Tiwary explained.

In response, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary acknowledged the demand, stating that it must be supported by substantial facts. “No one can deny official language status to any language if the demand is based on substantial facts,” he affirmed.