The most common question asked by Kokborok speakers every year on Kokborok Day is Will Kokborok script issue ever be resolved?
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| Description: Map of where Kokborok is Spoken. |
Kokborok to mark its 48th anniversary of recognition as a state language on 19 January. Since its recognition in 1979, the language has witnessed significant growth in documentation, vocabulary expansion, and digitalisation. However, every year on 19 January when the state celebrates Kokborok (Recognition) Day popularly known as Kokborok Sal, one crucial question continues to resurface: when will the script issue be resolved?
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| Celebration of Kokborok Day |
While the majority of Kokborok speakers demand the adoption of the Roman script, its present-day usage in schools, and even up to the college level, remains largely in the Bangla script. This is also primarily due to the state and central education boards pushing Bangla script onto students. In contrast, book publications outside the school academic framework, as well as academic work at the university level, are largely produced in the Roman script. In everyday life too, most people prefer writing Kokborok in Roman rather than Bangla.
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| Kokborok Roman Alphabet |
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| Kokborok Bangla Characters |
Despite the government’s persistent enforcement of the Bangla script during the school years, this reality suggests one clear conclusion: although Kokborok does not have a script of its own and relies on borrowed scripts, the majority of its speakers favour the Roman script for daily use and are now demanding its adoption in the academic sphere as well.
Recently, Bubagra Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, along with representatives of the TIPRA Motha Party from the Legislative Assembly and the District Council, wrote to Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha seeking the adoption of the Roman script for Kokborok/Kaubru for all official and academic purposes.
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| Memorandum written by Bubagra Pradyot Kishore Debbarma to Chief Minister Prof Dr. Manik Saha |
According to Hindu, the Chief Minister has expressed his willingness to accept the Roman script for Kokborok/Kaubru, according to some members of the TIPRA Motha Party. They've stated that the next step for the party is to formally write to the central education boards.
What now remains is an official announcement. However, these claims are also being viewed with speculation, as the TTAADC is set to go to the polls this year after five years. This move is being seen by some as yet another desperate attempt to gain power in the TTAADC, which they have failed to do since their win in the state’s poll in 2018.
And every year on Kokborok Sal, these questions are consistently raised, especially as board examinations draw closer from late February through March. What script will the Kokborok question papers be in? Will it be the same as every year (in Bangla)? Will the system continue where question papers are printed only in Bangla script while students are allowed to answer in either Roman or Bangla? Or will the question papers be printed in both scripts, or entirely in Roman script? The latter seems unlikely, but many are hoping that at least this year the question papers will be available in Roman script alongside Bangla.
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| Twipra Students' Federation (TSF) protest infront of TBSE Office |
More importantly, there is growing concern over whether the government will double down on the current options and strictly enforce only the Bangla script on students, as was seen in 2024. Some nationalist organisations are reportedly considering a complete boycott of Kokborok Day celebrations. At the same time, many, especially school and college students, may still come out to observe the day, partly because participation has been made mandatory to some extent, and partly because it remains a significant occasion for language pride and cultural identity.
Yet even those who choose to celebrate are fully aware of the continued neglect surrounding the script issue. The question remains: will this year be any different, or will students once again be forced to take to the streets, bringing transportation across the state to a standstill, merely to demand the right to use a script of their choice for the language they speak, appealing to an administration that neither speaks Kokborok nor fully understands the ethos of Kokborok-speaking communities?
The non-Kokborok-speaking majority government in the state has remained largely anti-Kokborok and opposed to the Roman script since its inception following Tripura’s merger with India. This is evident in the Tripura Official Language Act of 1964, which recognised only Bangla as the state’s official language, completely sidelining Kokborok. As a result, Kokborok speakers were forced to launch a mass movement demanding official recognition for their language, a struggle that culminated only in 1979, at the cost of many martyrs.
This historical marginalisation explains why statements such as those made by Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha, questioning in public gatherings why Kokborok speakers seek a “foreign script” instead of developing their own like the Chakmas, are deeply troubling. Such remarks underline the reality that Kokborok speakers are rarely given a say in matters concerning their own language. Similarly, some non-Kokborok-speaking politicians have been heard claiming that Kokborok would be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution only if it adopts the Devanagari script, while simultaneously denying the aspirations of its original speakers.
What these statements effectively convey is this: you do not get to choose what is best for your language; you must choose what we tell you to choose. This persistent denial of linguistic agency helps explain why there is so much dissent among Kokborok speakers and why the script issue evokes such deep emotion and sentiment.
While it remains uncertain whether this year will bring any change or whether the Kokborok script issue will finally be resolved, one thing is clear. Even if there is no concrete solution and board examinations come and go without any reform, Kokborok speakers will continue to resist, agitate, and demand their right to choose what best suits their language. And next year, on this very day known as Kokborok Day or Kokborok Sal, the same questions, demands, and struggles are likely to resurface once again.