STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Noisy scenes were witnessed in the House on Tuesday after Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha moved a private member resolution to make Bengali an associate language in the Assam Legislative Assembly.
MLA Purkayastha said that in Assam, around 29.80% people speak Bengali. “Why has Bengali not been recognized as an associate language? The government has given recognition to the martyrs of the Assam Movement, which is a good thing. But why has the government not recognized the Bengali-speaking martyrs? Recently, the government recognized Bodo as an associate language.”
In reply, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika said that MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha was ignorant. “Bengali is already being used in the Assam Assembly. A privilege motion should be moved against MLA Purkayastha as he is not aware of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Assembly.”
Some Treasury bench MLAs said that Purkayastha was indulging in ‘communal politics’. There were noisy scenes in the House. Speaker Biswajit Daimary then intervened and said, “As per the rule of procedure and conduct of business in the Assembly, four languages can be used in the House by the members during discussion and while putting forward questions. They are Assamese, English, Bengali and Hindi. Earlier, the Bodo language was an associate language in Kokrajhar and Udalguri. Recently, the Assam Government recognized Bodo as an associate language. When members talk in the Bodo language in the House, some members do not understand. So we are considering using interpreters. Bengali language is used in the House and will continue to be used.”
After this, MLA Purkayastha withdrew his resolution.
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