Amit Shah’s ‘Devnagari’ push for Kokborok triggers fresh storm in Tripura

Tripura, once at the forefront of India’s support for Bangladesh’s Muktijuddho (Liberation War) and the Bangla Bhasha Andolan against Pakistan’s imposition of Urdu, is now fighting a language crisis of its own. The state has once again been drawn into a decades-old debate over the script of Kokborok, the indigenous language of Tripura, following remarks by Union Home Minister Amit Shah advocating the use of Devanagari for “scriptless” northeastern languages for national unity. Although Kokborok has traditionally been written in the Bengali script since at least the 14th century, demands for adopting the Roman script began among educated tribal youth four decades ago. “There has never been any conflict over language or script in Tripura. People here speak Bengali, Kokborok and Hindi, and all these languages are moving forward together,” Shah said at a public event in Agartala on February 20. Criticising the various linguistic nationalist movements in the Northeast, he said that for many years there has been a deliberate propaganda suggesting that if a language is given less importance, it will lead to educational backwardness and isolation of the people. Arguing that most indigenous languages of the Northeast had accepted Devnagari, the home minister suggested that Tripura should do the same. “How can one protect their existence and identity through a foreign script?” he asked. Echoing the Home Minister, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said the preservation of local languages and the promotion of Hindi should go hand in hand, as the main aim of language is to connect people, not divide them. “With a well-known language, it becomes easier to create a strong bond between the public and the government, and in this, the Hindi language has played a key role,” he said. “India is a country of many languages. Hindi is the language of the world’s largest democracy and unites people. It is not just Hindi that should prevail, but local languages should also thrive alongside it.” ## Remarks trigger row With local body elections weeks away, the remarks have triggered a rift within the ruling BJP-led alliance. Allies Tipra Motha and Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) have said they cannot compromise on the demand for Roman script for Kokborok and have tacitly warned that force on the issue could prompt them to exit the government. IPFT called the CM’s comments “unsolicited advice” from a non-native speaker. The tensions escalated after tribal affairs minister Bikash Debbarma Saturday (February 21) said, “If BJP is so bad and unsavoury, why are you (Tipra Motha) staying in alliance with BJP, leave our alliance, leave us, go away, go”. The Congress, meanwhile, registered its protest by hoisting black flags and said it would object to Hindi imposition in any form. “The way he has demanded that at least 40 languages of Northeast India have to write their languages with the Devnagari script sounded almost like a threat, as if no help would be provided for development of these languages if they didn’t adopt Devnagari script,” said CPI(M) Politburo member and Leader of the IppositionJitendra Chaudhury, calling it “a classic example of linguistic aggression, language terrorism and result of RSS ideology”. ## Not a new problem Once a tribal-majority princely state under British protection, Tripura’s indigenous identity underwent transformation following the migration of Bengali Hindu refugees from East Pakistan after the 1947 Partition and in the run-up to the 1971 Liberation War. While official rehabilitation of the first wave of refugees concluded by October 1960, migration continued. By 1971, around 15 lakh refugees had settled in Tripura, almost equal to the state’s domicile population of 15.56 lakh at the time. The demographic impact was profound. Tribals, who constituted 52.89 per cent of the population in 1901, declined to about 28.95 per cent by 1971. Today, the indigenous population stands at roughly 31 per cent, with Kokborok pushed to the fringes of administration and higher education. ## One script, four language commissions Tripura has constituted three Kokborok language commissions and one committee for the tribal language. The first Kokborok Bhasha Commission was set up in 1990 under tribal ideologue and former minister Shyamacharan Tripura. The second followed in 1997 under linguist Professor Kumud Kundu Choudhury. The third, Adivasi Bhasha Commission, was formed in 2004 under linguist Pabitra Sarkar. In 2018, the BJP formed a fourth committee for the development of Kokborok under Atul Debbarma. While the reports of these committees are not available publicly, experts say all three commissions favoured the Roman script. The findings of the Atul Debbarma committee have also not been released. Previous Congress and Left Front governments sought to manage the dispute by allowing both Bengali and Roman scripts in school and university examinations. ## The poll factor With elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) scheduled for April, tribal parties are using the Roman script demand as an electoral issue to consolidate the indigenous vote against the BJP’s preference for Devanagari or Bengali scripts. Tipra Motha, which governs the TTAADC, protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, has been demanding a separate state for tribals comprising the ADC areas and a few other villages, complaining that the funding provided to it via the state government is insufficient for meaningful development activities in tribal areas. Government estimates suggest that around 8.14 lakh people from Tripura, Reang, Jamatia, Noatia, Kalai, Rupini, Murasing and Uchoi communities speak Kokborok in the state. The language was accorded official status in 1979 and is currently taught in 22 government degree colleges and at Tripura Central University.