The heart of Tripura aches with a familiar, gnawing sorrow. A silence that echoes the deep-seated pain of marginalization, a silence that threatens to drown the vibrant spirit of a language struggling for its rightful place.
Why, oh why, Tripura government, is the simple request for the acceptance of the Roman script met with such stubborn resistance?
A resistance that casts a long, dark shadow over the future of countless students, whose academic dreams hang precariously in the balance. We hear the cries of students, the pleas of Kokborok speakers, all united in their preference for the accessible and inclusive Roman script. Yet, their voices are lost in the bureaucratic maze, their hopes dashed against the wall of indifference.
Is this the price the Tiprasa must pay for their identity?
A constant, agonizing struggle for basic rights within their own ancestral land? Why must every step forward be met with a wall of opposition, every request met with a deafening “no”? Are the Tiprasa so undeserving of the same respect and consideration afforded to others?
For 46 years, Kokborok has endured the constraints of the Bengali script, a compromise born of necessity, not choice. Why, after all this time, has Kokborok been denied its rightful place in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution? A question that hangs heavy in the air, unanswered, a testament to the persistent neglect.
And now, the very individuals who have perpetuated this neglect, who have allowed Kokborok to languish in the shadows, dare to cite the language’s historical limitations as a reason to oppose the Roman script. This thinly veiled excuse reeks of malice, a transparent attempt to mask their true intentions: the slow, insidious erosion of Kokborok, not its preservation.
The fear is not about the script, it is about the ultimate goal. Is this a deliberate attempt to extinguish the flame of Kokborok, to silence the voices of the Tiprasa people? Is this the legacy Tripura wishes to leave behind? A legacy of cultural erasure, of broken promises, of a people betrayed by their own land?
We implore the Tripura government: listen to the cries of your people. Open your hearts and minds to the simple, undeniable truth: the Roman script is not a threat, but a lifeline. It is a bridge to a brighter future, a chance for Kokborok to flourish, not fade away. Do not let the voices of the Tiprasa be silenced. Do not let their language die. Do not let their dreams be crushed beneath the weight of indifference.
