Tripura: Pradyot bats for non-Kokborok speaking tribes

Agartala: Chairman of Advisory Reforms Committee of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma has requested the tribal council authority to set up a language development committee for the non-Kokborok speaking tribes.

Ten indigenous tribes out of 19 tribes of the state are considered as non-Kokborok speaking people. One third indigenous tribes are non-Kokborok speaking people. Out of state’s total population (37 lakh as per 2011 census), 31 per cent belongs to indigenous people.

The Tipra Motha supremo in a letter addressed to Chief Executive Member (CEM) Purna Chandra Jamatia on February 22, said there might be some miscommunication in regards to various issues regarding smaller non-Kokborok speaking indigenous tribes.

As the chairman of the Advisory Reforms Committee, I am requesting you to kindly look into this matter with utmost seriousness, Debbarma said.

“While the promotion of Kokborok as a language is very important, we must be very sensitive and conscious of the other tribes living in Tripura, who are non-Kokborok speakers and there should be no bias against them especially when it comes to employment,” he wrote in the letter.

Debbarma, who is also Member of District Council (MDC), further said the Tiprasa community has suffered as a minority in the state.

Member of Parliament (MP), East Tripura Parliamentary Constituency, Rebati Tripura on Thursday said, “There is absolutely no need to write a letter for forming such committee for non-Kokborok speaking people. This could be declared first before sharing his letter to the social media.”

On the row over script for Kokborok, Tripura, who is the president of Janajati Morcha, tribal wing of state BJP, said, Let the matter be decided by poets, writers and intellectuals to enrich tribal language.

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