West Bengal govt to focus on Hindi, new university in Howrah soon

The West Bengal government has decided to establish a state-aided varsity — named Hindi University as of now — in Howrah district, besides setting up a centre of excellence, which will be devoted to enrich the language.

“The Hindi university will show us a new path. It will stand for harmony and unity. We will decide the name of the Hindi university later after talking to all communities. I will request the education department to initiate the construction work as land has already been acquired and the foundation stone has been laid,” she said.

The move comes around three months after Banerjee courted a controversy by saying that those living in the state will have to learn to speak Bengali.

“We have to bring Bengal forward. When I go to Bihar, UP, Punjab, I speak their language. If someone is living in Bengal, he or she has to learn Bengali,” Banerjee had told the Trinamool Congress workers at Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas district in June.

On Thursday, however, she said there are many Hindi-speaking people who are staying in West Bengal. “We have given recognition to different languages, but importance must also be given to Hindi by setting up more Hindi-medium schools, colleges and universities. There are many people who have made this request. So, more Hindi-medium educational institutions will be set up in West Bengal,” said the chief minister.

Besides the Hindi varsity, she added the government will open universities in all districts. “Our government, since coming to power in the state, has set up several universities and many more are in the pipeline. We are coming up with a university in Jhargram (a newly-created district). So far, we have build 31 universities in the state and there are several which are under process. We have also come up with 50 colleges and 7,000 schools and engineering colleges and medical colleges,” she said.