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KOKRAJHAR: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) on Saturday came down heavily against the move of the Government of Assam (GoA) making Assamese the compulsory official language of the state, neglecting the associate official language of Assam, Bodo, which is included in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India.
In a statement, the working president of BJSM DD Narzary said the move of the Government of Assam to forcefully impose the Assamese language in the state was a matter of concern for the Bodos, as the Bodo language is neglected even in the BTR. The government notification had asked the officials to speak, write and translate all official works in Assamese and English in a compulsory manner, while the 8th schedule Bodo language, which is already an associate official language of Assam, is not mentioned to be used other than in the BTR with English. He said the Bodo language was totally neglected outside BTC. Many Bodos lost lives for the introduction of the Bodo medium and script movement, but despite this fact, the government’s order to use compulsory Assamese will not only neglect the Bodo as an associate official language but also dishearten the Bodos as a whole. He also said the Bodo was notified as an associate official language in Kokrajhar and Udalguri in 1986, and subsequently, it became an associate official language across the state. He questioned why the government of Assam had been forcefully going to impose the Assamese language, neglecting the Bodo language, and what will happen to the Bodo language outside BTC. He also questioned why Minister UG Brahma and Speaker Biswajit Daimary had been silent at this critical juncture.
The Governor of Assam, in exercise of the powers conferred under section 7 with section 3 of the Assam Official Language Act, 1960 (Assam Act No. XXXII of 1960), on April 14, 2025, issued directions for the use of Assamese as the Official language in the state of Assam and use of local languages in the Barak Valley, hill districts, and the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) under the sixth schedule areas asking that the Assamese language shall be used compulsorily in all official works, issuance of all Government notifications, office memoranda, acts, rules, regulations, scheme guidelines, transfer and posting orders shall be both in English and Assamese while in the Bodoland Territorial Region, Bodo shall be used in addition to English for the aforementioned official purposes and in the districts of the Barak Valley, Bengali shall be used in addition to English for the aforementioned official purposes.
The orders said the legacy documents comprising acts, rules, regulations, and notifications shall also be translated into Assamese (Bodo and Bengali, wherever applicable) over a period of two years, in a phased manner, and the translation work shall be undertaken with the assistance of language departments of the universities. Besides, all notifications, orders, acts, rules, regulations, and guidelines issued by the Central Government shall be published by translating into the Assamese language (Bodo and Bengali, wherever applicable) within thirty (30) days of receipt by the department concerned.
In the event of any ambiguity, discrepancy, or requirement of legal interpretation, the English version of such laws, notifications, rules, regulations, ordinance shall prevail and the English language shall continue to be used for communication with the Government of India, Central Government offices and other State Governments establishments while, all enquiry reports, para-wise comments, instructions, affidavits, and correspondences as required to be submitted before the courts shall be in English language.
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