Five days after Nepal's new vice president, Paramananda Jha, spoke in Hindi during his official swearing-in ceremony, Nepalis have demonstrated on the streets of Kathmandu asking the vice president to apologize for not using the official language, Nepali.
BBC reports that protesters have burnt tires and blocked traffic (which has become the most common form of demonstration) in the capital city asking Jha to step down if he will not retake his oath in Nepali. Jha has also been criticized for wearing dhoti and kurta instead of the Nepali national attire daura and suruwal and a cap.
The vice president, who took his oath immediately after the new president Ram Baran Yadav (who took his oath in Nepali) responded:
"I translated the oath into Hindi so as to convenience the people of southern Nepal, who speak such languages as Maithili, Bhojpuri and Awadi. And Hindi is considered as our medium language.
This is the first time that a Nepali government official has taken an oath in a language other than the official language. Jha's mother tongue is Maithili, which along with Bhojpuri, are the two dominant languages in the southern region.
Important to keep in mind that Hindi is common in many areas of Nepal mostly because of its border in the east, west and the south and the Bollywood influence.
Following this issue, Jha has instead stressed that Hindi should be made an official language in Nepal.
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