TIPRA Motha protests against making Bengali script ‘mandatory’ for TBSE Kokborok exams

“If he (the TBSE chief) has guts, he can come out with a written order that Kokborok cannot be written in Roman script. For 17 years, students have been writing Kokborok in Roman script and the man is trying to disturb law and order. People will think that he is trying to pollute the TBSE with his communal attitude. The government should release him from the Board before the deterioration of law and order, peace and discipline in the state,” said Animesh Debbarma.

He said some people might have been instigating Ganchoudhury and he appealed to Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha to look into the matter.

Reacting to the TBSE chief’s purported statement, Animesh Debbarma had earlier said, “If Ganchoudhury brings out an order that Roman script is not allowed, then you will find all the roads are blocked tomorrow. Huge movement will erupt. It will be a waste of time… That’s why, I said that law and order will get affected due to this kind of decision. So, I appeal to the government and the Board president to not take such decisions.”

Tipra Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Debbarma has also urged tribals to fight for their rights on the issue.

“This is a plan to keep us out of the system. I am telling you that a reply should be given but not as politicians but as Tiprasa (people)… This is Bubagra (king) asking Tiprasas to get up and resist and fight for your rights,” he had said in a voice message circulated on social media on Thursday evening.

Reacting to the controversy, Ganchoudhury said, “The state government has already forwarded a proposal to the CBSE asking it to allow students to use the Roman script for Kokborok exams. But we are yet to get a reply. So, the CM instructed the Board to continue the exam as it had been going on since long till further notification. Whatever the Opposition leader said was only partially true and can misguide the students.”

The issue of treating the Roman script as the official script for the Kokborok language was raised in the state assembly last year and also during the winter session in January.

Animesh Debbarma had moved a motion for allowing students to take the Kokborok exam in both Bengali and Roman scripts.

Faced with severe pressure from legislators of Opposition parties – Tipra Motha, Congress, and CPI(M) – Chief Minister Manik Saha had assured the House that the state government would soon write to the CBSE, requesting it to allow students to use Bengali and Roman scripts for Kokborok exams.

Kokborok is the lingua franca of most of Tripura’s 19 tribal communities. It was recognised as an official language in Tripura in 1979.

Two language commissions were set up under former minister Shyama Charan Tripura and linguist Pabitra Sarkar, respectively, both of which recommended the Roman script for the Kokborok language.

Successive erstwhile Left Front governments, however, ‘preferred’ the Bengali script but kept provisions for using the Roman script alive.