West Bengal to make Bengali mandatory for official communication from 1 September
The West Bengal government will make Bengali mandatory for all official communications from 1 September 2026. The announcement was made in the Assembly on Monday
The West Bengal government will make Bengali mandatory for all official communications from 1 September 2026. The announcement was made in the Assembly on Monday, where Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also read out a letter from Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging the state to expand the use of Indian languages in governance, PTI reported. Addressing the House, the Chief Minister said Bengali would be used at every level of the state administration beginning 1 September. He added that all official communication with other states would also be in Bengali, while correspondence with the Union government would be carried out in both Bengali and Hindi.
At present, official communication between the West Bengal government and the Centre is generally conducted in English. Amit Shah urges wider use of Bengali in governance According to PTI, the decision follows a letter written by Amit Shah during his recent three-day visit to West Bengal. The Union home minister reportedly wrote the letter in Bengali and referred to Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee's vision of promoting Indian languages while preserving the country's linguistic diversity. In the letter, Shah suggested that Bengali should be used extensively across all levels of the state administration, including file management, official noting, departmental correspondence and government orders, from the land and land revenue department to the chief minister's office.
He also recommended giving priority to Bengali in public services, digital governance, government websites, mobile applications, media, and other official communications. Focus on citizen services and cultural preservation According to PTI, Shah further proposed that Bengali should be used extensively for registering First Information Reports (FIRs), filing public complaints, issuing citizen information and disseminating awareness messages to improve public participation in governance. The letter also suggested that official communication with the Centre could be conducted in Bengali and Rajbhasha Hindi, rather than relying solely on a foreign language. Shah noted that the Union home ministry already conducts file management, departmental communication, official notings and government notifications effectively in Hindi, demonstrating that administration in Indian languages is both practical and efficient.
Referring to the 125th birth anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Shah expressed hope that the West Bengal government would take concrete steps to promote the extensive use and development of Indian languages. According to PTI, he said such measures would strengthen good governance while preserving India's linguistic and cultural heritage.
The BriefWire