Exclusive | Kokborok Language of Tripura to be Included in 8th Schedule of Indian Constitution?

Guwahati, December 12, 2019:

According to highly-placed sources, Kokborok, the lingua franca of the Borok people of Tripura, is likely to be included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, becoming the 23rd language to be included in the list.

The inclusion of Kokborok, which is closely related to the Bodo, Dimasa and Kachari languages of the neighbouring state of Assam, has been a long-standing demand of the tribals of Tripura.

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This development has come amid the ruckus over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to the non-Muslim migrants. The re-introduction of the Bill has caused an uproar across the Northeast region, which is one of the most volatile regions of the country as it shares international borders with several countries.

Apart from the inclusion of Kokborok in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, the Government also intends to exclude the Tribal Autonomous Council in the state, where the demand for a separate state is gaining momentum with each passing day, from the purview of the CAB.

Apprehensions over the influx of Bangladeshi migrants is one of the burning issues in the region, and is believed to be the one of the causes behind insurgency in the region.

Meanwhile, the Union Government has also promised the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Manipur, according to the Chief Minister N Biren Singh. After a series of consultations with the Union Home Ministry, in which he had been assured that the Citizenship Bill would not impact Manipur, N Biren had announced, "Manipur will be totally protected…might be ILP or might be anything else.”

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Moreover, the Government has also announced that the areas under the ILP regime, and the areas protected under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, will be excluded from the ambit of the CAB.

However, Assam, which does not have any special provisions for the protection of the indigenous people, is expected to suffer after the implementation of this Bill. Some indigenous have even alleged that this Bill will open the doors for the influx of crores of illegal Bangladeshi migrants from neighboring nations.

Although Union Minister Amit Shah has assured that Assam will be safeguarded under the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, the committee that has been constituted to resolve the issue, is yet to submit its report.

Some leaders, such as the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) politician Biswajit Daimary, believe that the Assamese people themselves do not know what they need to safeguard their identity and culture, which is why the exercise has been a failure thus far. Although protests against the CAB are being organized across the state, they have failed to take a united form.

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