40 TISF students detained for disrupting Kokborok Day rally in Agartala

At least 40 tribal students were detained by the police on Monday for allegedly creating chaos during a rally organized to mark Kokborok Day in Agartala.

The Kokborok Day rally was organized by the Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages to commemorate the recognition of Kokborok as a state language. The rally was led by senior BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia and former MLA Atul Debbarma.

Trouble erupted when a group of students belonging to the Tipra Indigenous Students Federation (TISF) began marching ahead of the official rally while carrying placards written in Roman script. Police intervened at Post Office Chowmuhani in the city and stopped the group from proceeding further.

According to police sources, around 40 students were detained for allegedly attempting to disrupt the rally and were taken to the AD Nagar police line. The sources added that the students would be released later.

Reacting to the incident, BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia said it was unfortunate that a group of youths had tried to disturb the peaceful and colourful celebrations marking the 48th Kokborok Day. He said the police acted promptly to prevent any breach of peace.

Meanwhile, Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma expressed concern over the detention of the youths. In a video message, he stated that it was disappointing to see placards written in Bengali script during a Kokborok Day programme when demands were being raised for an alternative script for the language.

“The youths who raised their voices against the move were detained by the police. This is a matter of shame for us,” Debbarma said.

He further said that while every language should be allowed to flourish in the state, the forceful imposition of any script could escalate tensions. “Our fight for linguistic rights will continue,” he added.

Kokborok is the mother tongue of most of the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura, but it does not have a script of its own.