THE DEMAND for Roman script for Kokborok language saw protests pick up on Wednesday, with a large protest organised near the Palace Compound in Agartala. The Roman Script for Kokborok Choba (RSKC) organisation threatened to launch an "aggressive movement" if their demands were not met. Kokborok is the lingua franca of a majority of the 19 tribal communities of Tripura. While the language has a long history, is recognised as an official language in the state under its three-language policy and is accepted as a medium of communication by other tribal communities of the state, it does not have a script. Till now, Bengali or Roman script has been used to write the language. Since the BJP first formed a government in 2018, there has been a push for introducing the Devanagari or Hindi script for it, even though there is widespread pushback against it from parties and students and culture activists, warning that it could disturb the region's sensitive language dynamics. The demand that Roman script be accepted for Kokborok resurfaced this year after students appearing for the CBSE board examinations were allegedly compelled to write their answers to the question paper on Kokborok language in the Bengali script. During a debate in the last Assembly session, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha said his government was ready to introduce a script for Kokborok in “any Indian language”. The main Opposition party TIPRA Motha, which represents tribal interests, raised a furore and staged a walkout. The RSKC, a conglomeration of 56 Kokborok-language activist groups, has since organised a series of deputations and agitations, leading up to the mass sit-in Wednesday. Its members said all governments in the state, whether run by the CPI(M), the Congress or the BJP, have frustrated the cause of the tribal language. Tripura’s script debate around Kokborok is several decades old. The language was first recognised as the official state language of Tripura in 1979. Although the erstwhile Left Front government was inclined towards the Bengali script for it, the RSKC says the two commissions set up on the issue had found that a majority of the state's tribals favoured the Roman script. The tribal language is now taught in 22 degree colleges of Tripura as well as Tripura Central University. Citing the two language commissions, Tipra Students Federation (TSF) leader Sunil Debbarma said the main demand of their language protest was recognition to write Kokborok in the Roman script. "Reports show 95% of Kokborok speakers want the Roman script. Yet, there has been an effort to impose the Bengali script by both the erstwhile Left government and the BJP government. This is just the beginning of our movement. If the government doesn't pay heed to our demand, the results won't be pleasant," he said. Their forum will decide the next course of action in a month's time, if no step is taken by the government, he added. "We shall raise an agitation from Sabroom to Dharmanagar," he said, referring to the southernmost and northernmost points of Tripura, respectively. Former minister and TIPRA Motha leader Mevar Kumar Jamatia accused the state government of playing politics with the Kokborok language. "We have been seeking the Roman script for Kokborok for nearly 50 years now. It's shameful and unfortunate that successive governments didn't accept the recommendations of their own language commissions," he said. Noted Kokborok writer and intellectual Bikashrai Debbarma also questioned the government for sitting on its own commissions' recommendations.
