Overview
- The Assembly’s General Purpose Committee, chaired by Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass, decided at a meeting held before the Budget Session that Hindi would be introduced as an official working language starting with the session that opened Monday, July 6.
- Speaker Dass said the change was made to acknowledge Hindi’s status as a 'Rashtra Bhasha', and the committee also approved renaming the Assembly channel from ALA TV to Assam Vidhan Sabha/Bidhan Sabha TV.
- Reports and social media rumours that Bodo would be removed prompted protests from Bodo groups, and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma publicly reassured citizens that there is no proposal to discontinue the use of Bodo in Assembly proceedings.
- The change affects how proceedings and institutional branding will be presented during the 21-working-day Budget Session, when the state budget is scheduled to be tabled on July 10, and may alter signage, logos, and simultaneous interpretation needs.
- Bodo’s constitutional recognition and its 2020 designation as an associate official language of the Assam Assembly make its protection politically sensitive, so officials’ assurances aim to limit local tensions even as the Assembly expands its formal language list.