Constitution has already accepted local languages as the languages of official business

Sujit Mainali / June 22, 2016

CPN-UML politburo member and former minister Lalbabu Pandit.                                                       Photo: Youtube grab

A front page report in Naya Patrika daily of June 13 titled “What the Madhesi leaders of big parties say about Madhes?” quoted politburo member of the CPN-UML and former Minister for General Administration Lalbabu Pandit as saying the following:

“If any province wishes to make one or more languages as languages of official business, the (constitution) should be amended to enable the provincial assembly to do so.”

When South Asia Check asked Pundit whether he had indeed made the statement, Pundit said: “I said that if the languages spoken inside the province are to be made the languages of official business of the province, we can amend the constitution accordingly in future and proceed further.”

South Asia Check studied the Constitution of Nepal, which has clearly said that one or more languages spoken within the province can be made the languages of official business within the province. So there is no need to amend the constitution for doing this.

Article 7 (2) of the constitution has said, “In addition to Nepali language, a province may select one or more national languages spoken by majority of people in that province as the language(s) of official business.”

Therefore, Pandit’s statement is wrong.

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