Tripura tense after students' body threatens road and railway blockade over Kokborok language script controversy
Agartala: Tension gripped Tripura after tribals backed by the Tripura Students Federation (TSF) threatened to block the National Highway and Railway services from Monday for an indefinite period.
TIPRA Motha’s student wing TSF is opposing the state government’s decision to allow only Bengali script for writing Kokborok language papers in the secondary and higher secondary board examinations.
TSF wants the government to allow both Bengali and Roman scripts for writing Kokborok language answer papers, as is the case with another minority language Mizo.
The Kokborok language is spoken by around 10 lakh tribal people in the state.
The higher secondary and secondary examinations in Kokborok are scheduled for March 4 and 7, respectively, when about 10,000 students will write the papers.
Opposition CPI-M supports TSF’s demand but wants the student body to cancel the blockade programme.
CPI-M has urged the TSF to hold a peaceful and democratic movement with all sections to compel the government to roll back the decision.
Earlier, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha discussed the matter with senior tribal BJP leaders, but the meeting was inconclusive.
However, BJP Spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty on Sunday said it was a matter of government policy where the party doesn’t have any role.
“We are hopeful the government will come out with a solution because agitation and blockade ahead of the exams will jeopardise the students’ interest,” he said.
He added that Kokborok does not have a script, and students generally write the paper for the language in the Bengali script.
Kokborok-speaking people use Bengali script for communication, and it has been a tradition.
The demand for Roman script for Kokborok, especially writing in board exams, might create problems in conducting the exams and evaluating the answer scripts as well, he noted.
The controversy erupted after President of Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) Dr. Dhananjoy Ganchowdhury said in a statement that only Bengali script would be allowed to write the Kokborok language exams.
He also allegedly said that any answer script of the Kokborok language written in Roman script would entail legal complications.
His comments elicited strong reactions from the tribals with TSF leaders demanding Gan Chowdhury's removal from the post of TBSE President and Roman script be allowed for writing the Kokborok exam.
They alleged that such a statement from any academic authority is considered "sedition and highly motivated against a community".
In his defence, Ganchoudhury said, “I am guided by rules and I have no other motive.”
Meanwhile, the CPI-M, in a statement on Sunday, said it had allowed both Bengali and Roman scripts for writing the exams for the one-and-a-half decade it had been in power.
It added that the UGC allows graduate and post-graduate level exams in Kokborok in Roman script.
“This is nothing but a divisive agenda of the RSS,” alleged CPI-M State Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury.
Responding to the controversy, Tripura Chief Minister claimed that some elements were trying to create a ‘riot-like situation’ in the state. “I advise them to drop such attempts as they are already exposed. Don’t try to fish in turbid water by creating unrest in the state,” he said.
(With UNI inputs)
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