Tripura-Developing Confrontation

ples. (See, for instance, "National Languages Policy and the Case for Nepali" by Surendra Munshi and Tridib Kumar Chakrabarti, EPW, April 14, 1979.) It is not as if the inclusion of Nepali m the eighth schedule will immediately lead to demands from spankers of such languages as Konkani, or Manipuri for inclusion of their languages in the eighth schedule, or that it such demands came forth and these languages too are recognised as 'official' Indian languages, the country will be on the brink of 'disintegration'. The country's unity is not all that fragile and the instruments to ensure the further consolidation of the present unity are in very fine fettle. The reason for the Primp Minister's adamant attitude might be that such a recogni tion of Nepali as an Indian language might not be welcomed by the ruling circles in Nepal who might see in .such a step some hidden motives. Then of course there is the need for Morarji Desai to be seen as rigid and uncompromising when once he takes a stand