NEPALI BHASA MANYATA DIWAS 2025
Amos Chettri (WB) In any newspaper, the main story is always printed on the first page. If the main story is moved to another page, then that news is not considered to have been given first priority. In this context Nepali Bhasa Diwas Day is celebrated every year on August 20. This Nepali Bhasa Diwas Day is celebrated in Darjeeling, Sikkim, Kalimpong, Delhi and many other parts of India where there are Gorkha Nepali speakers. We us to hear that Nepali Bhasa Diwas is celebrated every year on August 20. While thinking about Nepali Bhasa Diwas , when I opened my mobile on the evening of August 20, many parts of social media were filled with videos and photos of Nepali Bhasa Diwas. How many reels, status are there on Facebook, WhatsAap, Instagram, X, Telegram etc. Popular videos were also going viral in local media.
Various villages, houses, associations, institutions, schools, hotels and large halls were seen packed. I also saw on social media that various types of entertainment programs were being organized to exchange greetings on Nepali Bhasa Diwas in every place focus on how to encourage and inspire the Nepali language. On the day of Nepali Language, various types of political leaders were also seen very busy in their programs in different places. From village leaders, all the leaders of local parties and national level leaders were seen busy speaking. Some leaders were welcomed by the people with bunches of flowers and with music, while some did not get a chance to be welcomed at all.
MP Raju Bista, who won for the second time from Darjeeling, had also been posting on social media since the previous day that the Nepali Bhasa Diwas should be given a voice. He said that a judge of the Mangpu Court had scolded an advocate, saying, “Nepali cannot be spoken in this court because it is the language of Nepal, not India.” In another incident, a postgraduate student of Sikkim University had said, “Teachers and students should speak only English or Hindi in the classrooms, not Nepali, because this is not Nepal.” MP Raju Bista severely criticized both of them. It remains to be seen whether he will raise his voice at the national level or not.
I fell asleep in bed while watching and thinking about all these things. I woke up early on the morning of August 21, bought some news papers, went to my office and looked through all the newspapers and magazines. I forgot about the Nepali Bhasa Diwas the day before because except for “Hamro Praja Shakti” from Sikkim, no other newspaper had published the Nepali Bhasa Diwas on the front page. If Nepali Language Day is such a big day and this is the only heartbeat of Gorkhas, shouldn’t it be published on the front page of all the newspapers of all languages? Hasn’t the print media also ignored the Nepali language?
Dainik Jagran Hindi newspaper has printed it on the fourth page, Janpath Samachar has printed it on the second page, English newspapers The Times of India and Telegraph have not even printed it and Bengali papers have also ignored it. Considering India’s first colored Nepali Gorkha daily “Himalaya Darpan”, 700 to 800 readers are getting news from Kalimpong city alone every day, and this newspaper is the best-selling newspaper from Kalimpong. This newspaper has only a few articles except the Nepali language dispute on August 20 and the best wishes from G. T. A. Chief Anit Thapa. In Himalaya Darpan of August 21, not a single news item has appeared on the first page, but it has been printed on other pages. I have submitted the first page photos of all the newspapers with proof. Analyzing all these things, there are signs that the Nepali language is gradually disappearing. Now we have come to the day when we should be awake not only on August 20 but every day. It is necessary to not only keep our heartbeat language in our pockets, but also to bring it out daily and awaken the Gorkha people.
