Kokrajhar MP tonsures his head to protest "downgrading" of Assamese language in BTC
- Dec 04, 2020,
- Updated Dec 04, 2020, 12:48 AM IST
BAKSA: With days to go till the elections in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Kokrajhar MP Naba Kumar Sarania tonsured his head in public to protest the "downgrading" of the Assamese language in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) by the ruling dispensation.
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"The Bodo language has been considered as a main official language. However, 80 percent of the people residing in the BTC were using the Assamese language as the main language. It was an academic language for the people. But due to politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has compromised with the Assamese language in the BTC," Sarania said.
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The Kokrajhar MP, who is the supremo of the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP), that self-avowedly fights for the rights of the non-Bodo populace of the Council areas, slammed the State government for considering the Assamese language as an associate official language in the BTC (Bodoland Territorial Council).
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The Assam government in October last decided to bring in an ordinance to grant official status to the Bodo language.
The Assam cabinet also approved an ordinance to create a Bodo Kachari Autonomous Welfare Council outside the Sixth Schedule areas for the Bodo community.
These moves are seen as an attempt by the state government to appease the Bodos, while gradually fulfilling the promises made by the Modi government during the signing of the third Bodo accord on 27 January.
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