40 tribal students detained during Kokborok Day rally in Tripura

At least 40 tribal students were detained by police on January 19, for allegedly creating chaos during a rally organised to mark Kokborok Day in Tripura’s capital Agartala, officials said.
Kokborok Day is observed on January 19 to commemorate the recognition of Kokborok as a state language, and is organised by the Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages.
According to police, the situation turned tense when a group of tribal students moved ahead of the official rally holding placards written in Roman script. The official procession was led by senior BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia and former MLA Atul Debbarma.
Police intervened at Post Office Chowmuhani and detained the protesting students, who were later taken to the AD Nagar police line.
“We have detained around 40 students for creating trouble during the Kokborok Day rally. They will be released later,” Officer-in-Charge of AD Nagar police station, Rana Chatterjee, told reporters.
Reacting to the incident, BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia said it was unfortunate that a group of youths attempted to disrupt a “colourful rally” celebrating the 48th Kokborok Day.
“Police arrived in time and detained all those who tried to breach peace,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma expressed anguish over the detention of the youths, stating that they were protesting against the use of Bengali script on placards during the Kokborok Day programme.
“It looks bad to see placards written in Bengali script on Kokborok Day when we are demanding a different script. The youths who raised their voices against this were detained by the police,” Debbarma said in a video message.
He further said that while his party supports the growth of all languages in the state, any forceful imposition of a script could aggravate the situation.
“Our fight for rights will continue,” Debbarma added.
Kokborok is the mother tongue of most of the 19 indigenous tribes in Tripura. However, the language does not have its own script, leading to long-standing debates over the use of Roman or Bengali scripts.