40 students detained for creating trouble during Kokborok Day rally in Tripura

At least 40 tribal students were detained for creating chaos during a rally to mark the Kokborok Day here on Monday, police said.

The department of Kokborok & Other Minority Languages organises Kokborok Day (on January 19) to mark its recognition as a state language.

The trouble began when a group of tribal students suddenly started walking with placards written in Roman script ahead of the official rally led by senior BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia and former MLA Autul Debbarma.

At the Post Office Chowmuhani (in the city), cops stopped and detained the group who were holding placards written in Roman script.

''We have detained around 40 students for creating trouble during Kokborok Day rally and taken them to AD Nagar police line. They will be released later,'' Officer in Charge (OC), Rana Chatterjee told reporters.

Reacting to the protest, BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia said, ''It was unfortunate that a group of youth had tried to disrupt a colourful rally to mark the 48th Kokborok Day. Police arrived and detained all the youth who had tried to breach the peace,'' he said.

Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma expressed anguish over the detention of youth, who were protesting with placards written in Bengali script.

''It looks bad to see placards on the occasion of Kokborok Day that were written in Bengali script during the Kokborok Day programme, while we are demanding some other script. It is a shame for us. The youth who raised their voices against the move were detained by the police,'' he said in a video message.

Debbarma said, ''We want each language to flourish in the state, but forceful imposition of any script for language will propel the situation out of control. Our fight for the rights will continue.

Kokborok is the mother language of most of the 19 tribes in the northeastern state, but it doesn't have its own script.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)