'... that they should listen to people of the North East and find a permanent solution to tribal problems.'
"The card that the BJP plays in the Hindi belt is not accepted here. The North East has more linguistic diversity than mainland India," points out Bikash Debbarma, a language activist and president of the Kokborok Sahitya Sabha in Tripura.
Kokborok is the language of the Tripuri people.
"Arunachal Pradesh has 36 major tribal languages and 70 minor languages.
"Nagaland has 18 tribes that have their own languages.
"The slogan 'One nation one language one idea' does not ring true for the North East, the idea of 'Unity in diversity' is more meaningful," the activist-writer-music composer tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
Is the emergence of Tipra Motha the biggest story from Tripura after the election verdict?
The verdict is crystal clear. The narrative of the Left and Congress did not find any ground.
Secondly, the emergence of Tipra Motha as the second largest party is a reflection of the discontent of the indigenous people against the national parties.
Tipra Motha got 22% of the vote.
The tribal vote has shifted to the Tipra Motha.
Thirdly, the free ration provided to the poor during the pandemic and the increase of social pension from Rs 800 to Rs 2,000 had a positive impact for the government.
If we see the percentage of votes obtained by the political parties -- in 2018, the BJP amassed 53% of the vote along with its ally the IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura). The BJP alone procured 44%, but this year the BJP secured only 34%.
In 2018, the CPI-M got 43.25% votes; this year it has slipped to 27%.
The Congress in 2018 was around 2%; this year they have around 6% or 7%.
IPFT got 7% votes in 2018, this year they got around 1%.
The message is clear that Tripuri people have not been given their due in the last seven decades -- their right to land, language etc have been ignored.
This is a loud message to all India parties that they should listen to the people of the soil and think of a permanent solution to the problems of tribals.
As a language activist, what is the status of the tribal language in Tripura? How important is the language issue for the Tripuri people?
The language of the Tripuri people is Kokborok. There are around 850,000 Kokborok speakers in Tripura. Bangladesh has 350,000 while Assam and Mizoram also have a good number of Kokborok speakers.
In 1979 the State Language Act was amended and Kokborok was declared as one of the state languages, but surprisingly the script issue was kept open for debate since then.
Two commissions were formed about the development of the language. The outcome of both the commissions mandated the Roman script.
The state government -- both Left and BJP -- have not paid heed to THE people's demand. This is one of the reasons the BJP and CPI-M have suffered.
Tripura has 20 reserved seats for the Scheduled Tribes. Last time, 8 of the seats were won by the IPFT and 10 by the BJP. Together they won 18 seats. The CPI-M won 2 seats.
This year the CPI-M got zero, IPFT won 1 and BJP 6.
This is the reflection of the discontentment of the people. Significantly, in two general seats, Tipra Motha has come second pushing the Congress-Left Alliance to third place.
What is the history of tribal-based parties in Tripura?
The Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti, TUJS, was the first tribal-based political party floated in 1967. The party won 4 seats in the assembly election of 1978, 11 years after its formation.
The Left, which was in power at that time, created so much pressure on TUJS that they had to depend on an ally for their existence and partnered with Congress I.
Subsequently, on the initiative of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Act was passed in Parliament in 1979 and the TTPADC (Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council) was formed in Tripura.
The autonomous district councils were constituted in 1982, but were not allowed to function smoothly. The transfer of power from the state government to TTPADC was not been done properly and funding was not regular.
TTPADC was kept crippled for the last 42 years which is another root cause of discontentment of tribal people.
Is the Kokborok language widely spoken?
It is widely spoken. Thousands of music videos are also made and books published. The Kokborok Sahitya Sabha was established in 1972. 3,000-4,000 titles have already published.
Kokborok was introduced as a medium of instruction in tribal schools but was not done properly. 60% tribal students dropout in Class VI.
There are time-tested models for tri-lingual and bilingual studies prescribed by UNICEF and UNESCO. If we follow those I believe the dropout rate can be reduced.
The script of all languages of the North East began either through Assamese or Bengali. Our Kokborok language also started in the Bengali script and the first book was published in 1897. Yet after 126 years we have reached nowhere.
Kokborok is from the Tibeto-Burman language which has certain features that are very different from Indo-Aryan languages.
Indo-Aryan languages give more stress to phonetics while Tibeto-Burman gives more stress to intonation. These cannot be presented through the Bengali script and that's why the demand for introduction of Roman script for Kokborok was raised from 1967 and is pending.
There is a resistance to the imposition of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, especially in south India. The counter argument is that all 22 official languages of India should be treated at par. What reaction does this draw in the North East?
We don't have any problem with Hindi. Tribals of Tripura can speak Hindi. Amit Shah in one address said Hindi should be introduced as a compulsory subject in all North Eastern states and indigenous languages that don't have their own script should adopt the Bengali script.
Political figures think they are experts at everything.
What has been the broader message coming out from the North East after the election verdicts of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura?
All-India political parties should focus on local issues of the North East and the smaller sections within the North East. They should be given space and their voices heard.
There has been a dip in the BJP's vote share. The card that the party plays in the Hindi belt is not accepted here. The North East has more linguistic diversity than mainland India.
In Arunachal Pradesh alone there are 36 major tribal languages or dialects and 70 minor tribal languages.
In Nagaland there are 18 tribes and all tribes have their own language. Every state has its own unique problems, and the languages and cultural diversity have to be kept in mind.
The slogan 'One nation one language one idea' does not ring true for Northeast, the idea of 'Unity in diversity' is more meaningful.
What changes has Tripura seen in the last 5 years?
The government has tried to honour the feelings of the Tripura people like reverting the names of some places that had been changed in the last 70 years.
Concerns of tribal people have been recognised. They have started working in core sectors - drinking water to tribal hamlets, road connectivity etc.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
