Agartala: Police detained at least 40 tribal students on Monday after they allegedly disrupted a rally held in Agartala to mark Kokborok Day, officials said.
Kokborok Day, observed on January 19, is organised by the Department of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages to commemorate the recognition of Kokborok as a state language.
The official rally was led by senior BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia and former legislator Atul Debbarma.
According to police, the situation turned tense when a group of tribal students began marching ahead of the official procession carrying placards written in Roman script, triggering confusion and disruption.
The students were stopped by police at Post Office Chowmuhani in the city and taken into custody.
“We detained around 40 students for creating trouble during the Kokborok Day rally and brought them to the AD Nagar police line. They will be released later,” said Rana Chatterjee, officer-in-charge of the police station.
Reacting to the incident, BJP MLA Ram Pada Jamatia described the disruption as unfortunate, stating that the police acted to prevent a breach of peace during what was intended to be a celebratory event marking the 48th Kokborok Day.
Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, however, expressed concern over the detention of the youths.
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In a video message, he said it was inappropriate to display placards written in Bengali script during a Kokborok Day programme when there was an ongoing demand for a different script for the language.
He said the detention of youths who raised objections reflected poorly on the situation.
Debbarma warned that the imposition of any script on a language could aggravate tensions, while asserting that the movement for linguistic rights would continue.
Kokborok is the mother tongue of most of the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura but does not have its own script, making the issue a sensitive and long-standing one.
