TWF leaders meets Governor over Roman script demand, Motha to organise statewide movements, Animesh

Opposition leader of Tipra-Motha on Saturday threatened that if the state government will not introduce Roman script Kokborok language, then Motha will organise statewide movements and it will collapse the present BJP government like a ‘house of cards’.

Leader of opposition party, Animesh Debbarma addressing a large gathering of Tipra Women Federation (TWF) at Circuit House area of Agartala before their deputation to the Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya demanding Roman script for Kokborok language claimed that claimed that if the Tipra-Motha party becomes hostile to the party in power, particularly over its demand for a Roman script, the Tripura ruling government would collapse like a ‘house of cards’.

He said that if required, over one lakh women activists of the party would march to the Civil Secretariat to press for their demand of a Roman script for the indigenous Kokborok language.

Debbarma said that demand for roman script for Kokborok is long pending demand and asked why the government is denying their rights for language. “When we ask for Roman script we are told to either use Bengali script or the Devanagari. Why Devanagari if we ask? The answer is this is the script of the Devas. Then what is the use of Bengali script; replace all scripts with Devanagari if it is so pious”.

In his scathing attack on the state government, he said that the Tiprasa people have been deprived of their legitimate rights for decades. If the government thinks that leaving TIPRA Motha workers angry and resentful would bring them political strength, then they are wrong. Without Motha, this government could collapse any day. The calculation is simple. They have 31 MLAs. If two people resign, the government will be toppled,” he said.

According to Debbarma, if the demand of Roman script is ignored further, massive protests would be organized all across the state and no government would be in the mode to face such a situation like one after one big movement.

He said that Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha promised them that a committee will be constituted to look into the demand of Roman script and there is no progress. He also throws an open challenge to the Chief Minister and says that if he dares to accept it, he will give him a couple of Kokborok pronunciations which can only be accurately spelled and written in Roman script. Neither Bengali nor any other script can fix these problems, and this is why this demand has been raised, said Animesh.

Speaking with media persons, TWF leader and MLA Geeta Debbarma said that a delegation of women leaders met the Governor and submitted a memorandum detailing their demands. She said that the Governor has assured that within a few days the Governor  will speak to the government to fulfil their demands.