Tripura BJP insults indigenous people for not introducing Kokborok at MBB Airport: CPI(M)

The principal opposition party of Tripura CPIM on November 18 slammed the ruling BJP government for insulting the indigenous people of the state by not introducing the Kokborok language for announcement purposes in Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala.

“In the 2016 budget session during under NDA led BJP government in centre, when I  was MP of Lok Sabha I had raised a question on the introduction of the Kokborok language in airport and Railway stations in the state. During that time the then Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju of Telegu Desam Party and the then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had agreed and had written a letter to me that Airport Authority of India has implemented an announcement on flight information in Kokborok language at Agartala airport”, said CPIM state committee secretary Jitendra Chaudhury while addressing a press conference.

He further said till 2019, the announcement in Kokborok language apart from Bengali, English, and Hindi was made in the airport , but, all of a sudden without any prior information the announcement was stopped.
“No step was taken from the government to introduce it again. But, when the TIPRA Motha chairman raised the issue again, the Civil Aviation Minister declined the plea. Such an attitude of the BJP government proves that the government is against the tribals. This is a direct insult to the tribal people and to the language as well. BJP do not know how to respect a language”, said Jitendra while condemned the act of the government.