After TMP, another BJP ally to intensify stir for Roman script for tribal Kokborok language

After the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), another ally of the ruling BJP, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), on Monday announced that it would intensify its agitation demanding the introduction of the Roman script for the tribal ‘Kokborok’ language.

The TMP and the IPFT are both tribal-based parties and junior partners of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Tripura. Announcing the plan to step up the agitation, IPFT General Secretary Swapan Debbarma said that the choice of script for the tribal Kokborok language should rest solely with the indigenous people.

The IPFT leader’s announcement comes amid growing political differences between the TMP and the BJP over the adoption of the Roman script for Kokborok.

“Chief Minister Manik Saha’s mother tongue is Bengali. He should avoid issuing needless statements on this matter. This may be his personal statement, not that of the BJP or the government,” Debbarma told the media.

He said that the question of which script best suits the Kokborok language must be settled by those who use the language in their everyday lives.

In recent political speeches, the Chief Minister on several occasions has opposed the use of the Roman script for Kokborok and argued in favour of developing an indigenous script.

Kokborok is the mother tongue of nine of the 19 tribal communities residing in Tripura.

“Tribal intellectuals and linguistic experts can mutually decide a suitable script for Kokborok, but not the Roman script. If the Roman script is adopted, the younger generation of the tribal community may completely forget their traditions, customs and culture,” the Chief Minister had said.

He added that if the Chakma community could develop its own script, there was no reason for Kokborok-speaking people to lag behind. “The younger generation is being confused by repeatedly raising the demand for the Roman script for Kokborok,” Saha said. Meanwhile, the BJP’s ally TMP has been agitating for the past many months for the introduction of the Roman script for the Kokborok language.

A TMP leader said that Kokborok, belonging to the Tibeto-Burman language family, is closely related to other languages of the northeastern region, such as Bodo, Garo and Dimasa.

According to the 2011 Census, Kokborok is spoken by 8,80,537 people in Tripura, accounting for 23.97 per cent of the state’s total population of around 42 lakh.

It is the mother tongue of nine of the 19 tribal communities in the state. There are nine major Kokborok clans -- Tripura, Debbarma, Jamatia, Noatia, Murasingh, Reang, Kalai, Rupini and Uchowi.

Since 1988, two commissions headed by tribal leader Shyama Charan Tripura and noted linguist and academician Pabitra Sarkar have been constituted to examine the issue.

Kokborok was accorded the status of the second official language on January 19, 1979, by the then CPI(M)-led Left Front government, and January 19 is observed annually to commemorate the historic recognition.