President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said it was the duty of the government to conserve and promote local languages.
His statement at the 61 st annual conference of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) in western Assam’s Tamulpur attains significance after the row in the northeast over the Centre’s bid to make Hindi compulsory in high schools across the region.
The Bodo language is one of few tribal tongues in the northeast that uses the same script as Hindi – Devanagari.
“The conservation and promotion of local languages is the responsibility of society and the government,” Mr. Kovind said, appealing to the BJP-led Assam government to make efforts to promote the Bodo language.
Bodo is spoken by the Bodos, the largest plains tribe in the northeast. They mostly inhabit the Bodoland Territorial Region that had its roots in a separate statehood movement.
One of the triggers of that movement was the Assam Official Language Act of 1960, recognising Assamese as an official language in the State. It was a factor in the fear that the Bodos would lose their distinct identity.
Appreciates BSS
The President appreciated the BSS for making invaluable contributions for the past 70 years to strengthening the Bodo language, literature and culture. He noted that 17 writers in the language have so far received the Sahitya Akademi Award.
“Many women are writing in different genres of Bodo literature, but only two women are among the senior writers who have received the Sahitya Akademi Award for original works,” he said, urging the BSS to encourage women writers and invest in the younger generation.
