BSS and UBPO slam AXX president’s remarks on Assamese identity

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: The Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) and the United Bodo People’s Organization (UBPO) broke their silence over the remarks of Axam Xahitya Xabha (AXX) president Basanta Kr. Goswami on the Assamese identity. Both the organizations deemed that the remarks were unfortunate.

Goswami had allegedly stated that many indigenous communities, such as Bodos and Misings, often identify themselves through their ethnic identities, while many Muslims from the sar areas continue to identify themselves as Assamese speakers in official records and public life.

BSS president Gopinath Borgoyary, while speaking to the mediapersons in Kokrajhar, said that the controversial remarks of the president of AXX, Basanta Kr Goswami, targeting the Bodo and Mising communities were communal and unfortunate, coming from the head of a respected literary body of the state, which should be upholding the integrity of the indigenous communities.

Borgoyary said that the Bodos and other indigenous communities had their own languages, literatures, cultures, and identities and would definitely identify with them, but that did not mean that they were against the Assamese people, language, literature, and culture. He also said that the Bodos, Misings, Karbis, Deories, Dimasas, Rabhas, Garos, and other indigenous people also spoke the Assamese language and respected it. He added, “It is just that these indigenous communities want protection and development of their identities, languages, literatures, and cultures along with the Assamese.”

Meanwhile, reacting to Goswami's remarks, the president of the UBPO, Manuranjon Basumatary, said that the AXX is a respected literary organisation of the state whose vision should be inclusive and farsighted. He said, “Along with praising the people of Sar Chapori for identifying themselves as Assamese and studying in the Assamese medium, Goswami should remember the contributions of indigenous communities to the development of the Assamese medium, language, and literature.”

He reminded the BSS president that indigenous leaders like Sitanath Brahma Choudhury and Rongbong Terang had led the AXX as presidents and said that, despite this fact, Basanta Kr Goswami targeted the Bodo and Mising communities. Basumatary added that he might target other tribal communities in the near future. He appealed to the AXX president to maintain communal integrity in his remarks.

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