On Kokborok Day, Tripura Highlights Language Expansion as Script Dispute Deepens

Overview

• Chief Minister Manik Saha said Kokborok is now taught from Class I to XII with instruction in 1,296 primary schools, 115 high schools and 65 higher secondary schools, alongside a full-fledged department at Tripura University and plans for a pocket dictionary.
• Kokborok Day events in Agartala included a city rally, a cultural programme at Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhavan, the unveiling of four book covers and the felicitation of six teachers.
• Indigenous student groups TSF and TISF demanded official recognition of the Roman script during the rally, leading to police intervention and detentions after the march continued despite attempts to stop it.
• BJP MLA Rampada Jamatia called the Roman-script demand a "foreign conspiracy" and asserted an indigenous script would be introduced, reflecting the Chief Minister’s stance against foreign scripts and aggravating friction with ally TIPRA Motha.
• The Congress leadership issued Kokborok Day greetings, and with Kokborok spoken by 880,537 people in Tripura per the 2011 census, the script issue is expected to feature prominently ahead of the upcoming TTAADC elections.