Mamata Banerjee has been in a dilemma on which language to use with the Centre in her recent communications: Hindi, English or Bangla.
The communiques from Amit Shah are always in Hindi. Though Mamata speaks Hindi well, she can’t write it.
The apparatchiks in the Kolkata secretariat advised her to use Bangla but she refused thinking the Home Minister might construe the gesture as a tit-fortat.
She obviously doesn’t want to confront the Centre right now, as she awaits relief measures.
Mamata then spoke to her friends in Tamil Nadu, forgetting the state has a long history of anti-Hindi agitation.
But her TN friends solved her problem by suggesting she reply in English, a ‘neutral’ language, as they do. Mamata agreed.
Also because she didn’t want to stir up a hornet’s nest back at home, where Bengal has a sizable Hindi speaking population of settlers from Gujarat, Ra jasthan, Bihar and UP.
