THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two months after President Droupadi Murmu withheld assent to the Malayalam Language Bill, the state government is all set to reintroduce the legislation in a new form.
The government is aware of the importance of the bill, and its possibilities will be studied, Education Minister V Sivankutty said in connection with a convention organised by the Aikya Malayala Prasthanam to revive the legislation. The minister said that the government will work towards making the legislation a reality, and added that timely changes would be made in the Bill. However, no decision has yet been taken by the law department in the case, according to the office of the Law Minister.
The Bill was returned by the President without citing any specific reason, said an official with the Raj Bhavan. “The Ministry of Home Affairs had sent a few queries to the state government regarding the Bill earlier, replies to which were given by the state,” said the official.
The Malayalam Language (Dissemination and Enrichment) Bill, passed by the Kerala legislative Assembly in 2015, aimed to adopt Malayalam as the official language of the state. After being passed in the assembly, the Bill was referred to President by the then-governor P Sadasivam.
Meanwhile, the Aikya Malayala Prasthanam officials opined that, ideally the government should withdraw the current bill. “The reason why the legislation was referred to the President is unknown,” said Aikya Malayala Prasthanam state secretary Hari Dasan. “The ideal move is to withdraw the current bill, and draft a new comprehensive one that caters to the cultural and literary needs of the language,” said V N Murali, chairperson of the outfit.
In 2015 when the legislation was introduced, criticisms had come from various corners that it does not take into account the rights of linguistic minorities. Even though the state recognises only Tamil and Kannada as minority languages, the Bill included Tulu and Konkani too. It was also mentioned in the Bill that people from these minorities can use either their language or English for official communications with the state government.
According to the Bill, Malayalam will be the only language used in administration, along with making it the first language in schools.
The state currently uses Malayalam and English as official languages.