Tripura LoP criticizes Amit Shah’s remark on Devanagiri script, says it is an attempt of linguistic hegemonism

Tripura Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury today strongly criticized remarks allegedly made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during yesterday in the state, terming them as an attempt to impose linguistic and cultural hegemonism on the people of the Northeast.

Yesterday HM Saha arrived in Tripura to inaugurate Eastern, North-Eastern, and Northern Regional Rajbhasha Sammelan at the International Indoor Exhibition Centre, Hapania.

Reacting on the statement of HM Shah, the LoP and CPIM state secretary Chaudhury today said that while there is an Official Language Department to promote Hindi and there is no objection to its functioning, any move to pressure the people of the Northeast to adopt the Devanagari script for their languages is unacceptable.
He stated that during his tenure as a Member of Parliament, he had served on the committee related to official languages and had attended its meetings. 

However, he alleged that the Union Home Minister’s recent remarks suggesting that the nearly 40 languages spoken in the Northeast should use the Devanagari script, and that development efforts would depend on its adoption, amount to a “direct threat.”

“This is nothing but an attack on linguistic diversity and cultural identity. It reflects a hegemonic mindset towards language and culture. We strongly condemn such statements,” Chaudhury said.

He further alleged that such thinking aligns with the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and reiterated that language and script are matters to be decided by the people themselves.

On International Mother Language Day, Chaudhury emphasized that communities must have complete freedom over their mother tongues  including the choice of script.
 “People will decide the script of their language. We are against any kind of imposition,” he asserted.