Bengalis in Jharkhand are up in arms against the state government because Bangla has not been accorded the status of the second official language of the state.

'We have been deceived. Even Chief Minister Madhu Koda had announced Bangla would be among the second official languages of the state,' said R.K. Chaudhary, president of Jharkhand Bengali Association (JBA).

The angry Bengalis have decided to boycott state ministers during their upcoming festival of Durga Puja.



'The Chief Minister and ministers are lying, and we will not allow them to enter the puja pandals,' an angry Chaudhary said.

'We will field candidates in all constituencies (for elections) to let the politicians know the strength of the Bengali-speaking people,' Chaudhary said, adding the future course of action will be decided after Durga Puja.

The Jharkhand government Thursday notified Urdu as the second language of the state.

Justifying his decision, Chief Minister Madhu Koda said: 'This is a surprise gift for Muslims during Eid festival. We are determined on the development of the minority community.'

About 20 percent of people in Jharkhand speak Bengali. Bengalis have been demanding the second official language status for Bengali since the state was formed in Nov 2000 - a promise both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments have failed to keep.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) termed the move as politically motivated. 'This is a vote bank politics,' said P.N. Singh, state president BJP.