Yes For "Bangladeshi Bhasha"

It is time to accept a new language, It will secure future and work as hedge.

Recently a row over Bengali language between the central govt and state govt of Bengal in India caught everyone off guard. It started when a Police officer in Delhi sent a letter to the state govt of Bengal ,requesting for interpreter of "Bangladeshi Bhasha". The interpreter would try to get the meaning of Bengali documents ceased from migrant workers,hailing from Indian state of Bengal. Authorities in Delhi alleged them to be Bangladeshi, not Indians. But the letter caused great unease in Bengal as there is no such thing as "Bangladeshi Bhasha" or Bangladeshi language. The language spoken in both Bangladesh and Indian state of Bengal is called Bengali or "Bangla". But there are different hues and dialects in the ways Bengali [spoken] and written in the two parts. But the beauty is people from both sides comprehend the language of the other side without giving much effort. Bengali letters are based on Brahmi script whereas Hindi is based on Devnagri script. And the languages have their [roots] in the Sanskrit. Unlike Hindi, Bengali language was shaped by the colonial rulers.For this reason, to me, Hindi is more down to earth than Bengali.

Literary works of the affluent class residing in the Indian state of Bengal give it a prestigious presence among other languages. But it is widely practiced and spoken in Bangladesh where most of the Bengali speaking people reside. Just few years ago an online book platform of Bangladesh did a survey among the highest selling Bengali books. It was found out that the book that topped the list was a religious book written by a religious scholar from Madrasha. Nowadays, Bangladeshi publishing industry is thriving on publishing books for Madrasha students and on religion. As most of the books are written [in] Arabic, Persian and Urdu in these schools, there is a need for greater explanation and literary notes in Bengali for these scholarly works. And Madrasha is drawing more students because education is cheap and free and three-course meal [is] provided here with accommodation. Moreover, one can switch to school, college or university after passing some certain level. Most of the Madrashas are less susceptible to outside political interference and the environment in general is less troubling than other educational institutions, which nowadays are used for various occasions,including smoking hashish. Flexibility, austerity push families to send their kids to Madrasha. And the Bangladeshi publication industry survives [] catering to the need of these Madrasha. Compared to Bangladesh, practice of Bengali is in receding stage [in Indian Bengal]. Delhi's apprehension is that language similarities drawing the Bengali speaking people of the two countries [closer], posing a threat to its integrity. Consecutive successes of jointly produced Bangladeshi films with record budget cementified that apprehension. In addition, highest number of irregularities in the voter list of Indian state of Bengal found in Murshidabad , a Bengali speaking Muslim majority district adjacent to Bangladesh border. This further caused the suspicion to have roots. Though this term of "Bangladeshi Bhasha" is mooted for the first time, I [think] Bangladesh should snatch it to launch and promote a "Bangladeshi Bhasha" in a bid to make distinction between the languages spoken here and other side of the fence. I went through few language schools and had the chance to leaf through pedagogy books of one of them ,so I think I have the right to chew few words about this matter.

The French, Japanese and Koreans modified their languages so that a great number of people can understand and practice those languages. French Academy modified syntax,conjugation of verbs [and] limited the number of verbs with the consent of linguists. Japanese Hiragana and Katakana were introduced to make easy learning [of] the Chinese characters and distinguishing between foreign and Chinese entries into the language. Koreans also introduced abridged version of characters to make it distinct from the Chinese characters. We are not unfamiliar with modifications of languages in Bangladesh. Recently, Chakma language got a new written form,script and syntax. Rohingya language has introduced hanafi script. Even Sylheti language, many claimed it is a different language than Bengali,has its own script called "Nagri". For "Bangladeshi Bhasha", we could introduce a new script or modifiy the existing one.The letters should include letters from Thai,Rakhine,Saontal,Sanskrit,Roman ,Chakma,Persian languages,reflecting contributions of them shaping our language.My suggestion is to limit the letters between 20 and 25 instead of 49.We do not need at the same time "ই"(i) and "ঈ"(ii) or "উ"(u) and "ঊ"(uu). Similarly, we have awfully lot of consonants. For example, "ট" and "ঠ", the series "ত","থ","দ"," ধ" and "প","ফ","ব","ভ" are pronounced from same locations of the mouth. Just for differences in pronunciation, we introduced some redundant letters. We have an appetite for redundancy, overspending and this tells why we are having such big budget deficits! Instead of too many letters,we could have introduced accents like the French. Just one letter with different accents represents different pronunciations.

In our cuisines, we do not use too many spices. So our language should be devoid of redundancy. Orthographic adjustment are also needed to be made. For instance, "বিনিয়োগ"(investment),"আস্থাহীনতা" (lack of trust), অদূরদর্শী(lack of foresight) are long words. We could use concise words instead to express these terms. Similarly, syntax could be different from now what we have. Since we are living in an era of technological marvels, we should take aid from programming languages to shape the vernacular language. Instead of saying " I have eaten Bread,Potato ,Egg ,Tea in the breakfast" ,We could write "সকাল::নাশতা::রুটি,আলুভাজি,ডিম,চা" (Morning::Meal::Bread,Potato,Tea,Egg). The use of scope resolution operator from C++ makes the phrase more concise and understandable.

The new language will work as a barrier to protect us from demoralizing campaign. Language and cultural similarities are often used to demoralize other races. It will make a distinction between Indian Bengalis and Bangladeshis. So allegations of clandestine migration could be checked real time. To that happen, we need at least 20/30 years! It all depends on how popular the new language will become among the population. A closely knitted group of people may start the endeavor among themselves. Often kids develop their own fun languages to communicate among them. It could [start] just like that. If great number of people subscribe to that language, then Bangla Academy may convene linguists, scholars of linguistics ,lexicographers to formally give shape the new language. The new language will best capture identity of people of this country and will be bedrock for a new culture that we aptly call our own. This distinctive identity will help us getting rid of any demoralization. "Bangladeshi Bhasha" is indeed a great idea coming from an interesting place. We should embrace the idea irrespective of its origin, and securing our future averting demoralizing influences. So there is a big [yes] for "Bangladeshi Bhasha" and [no] for the Adani deal. The Adani power purchase deal is hurting Indo-Bangladeah relationship. Nitty gritty of the deal came to surface and is causing great unease. 15% punitive fee for delayed payments, higher coal prices than the market rate, penalty to cease the deal are costing the future potentials of both countries. Bangladesh is going through serious macroeconomic adjustment and austerity. For the sake of two countries,the deal should be reviewed. As both parties are heading for court, I think and hope the strategic community of India will abstain from taking sides here. State apparatus and influence should not be a tool and platform for giving undue privileges to exclusively few partisan businesses and promote cronyism. So to save the bilateral relationship this deal needs to be reviewed or discarded. Again yes for "Bangladeshi Bhasha" but no for the Adani deal.