Thiruvananthapuram: Even after Malayalam was declared a Classical Language, the Kerala government is yet to receive a clear answer as to why the President returned the Malayalam Language Bill. The only communication from the Centre has been that the Bill has not been approved. 

Upon a detailed examination of the returned Bill, the state government has concluded that certain provisions inserted during the legislative process may have prompted the rejection. Notably, some clauses were added during the Assembly debate that were not part of the original draft approved by the Cabinet, heightening the seriousness of the matter. The Bill was originally introduced in 2015 by the then UDF government.

Tamil and Kannada are recognised as minority languages in the state. The version of the Bill approved by the Cabinet mentioned only these two. However, during the Assembly discussions, Tulu and Konkani were also added.

Another contentious clause, deemed legally problematic, states that linguistic minorities may submit letters and petitions to the government in their own language or in English and that the government may respond in the same language or in English.

However, according to provisions in the Official Language Act of 1969, while linguistic minorities are permitted to submit communications in their language or English, the government is required to respond specifically in their language.

A key provision in the Bill was the mandatory inclusion of Malayalam as the first language up to Class 10. Other major clauses included mandating Malayalam as the language of communication in courts under district jurisdiction, in Secretariat and district-level government offices, and requiring all products manufactured in the state to carry labels in Malayalam.

It is also doubted that the vested interests of those who opposed the provisions were included in the Bill. Around 96% of Kerala’s population speak Malayalam as their mother tongue. Some argue that Presidential assent may not have been necessary in the first place.

The State Government has now begun exploring ways to reintroduce a language promotion law without compromising the core objectives of the original Bill.