Guwahati:
In a significant development, Assam legislators will be able to speak in Bodo in the state Assembly.
The decision was reached during a special meeting attended by Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, who represents the Bodo people.
The special meeting, which was attended by several politicians, notable members of the Bodo community, and other members of Bodo organizations, resolved to provide a venue in the house for legislators to express themselves in their mother tongue.
The state government recently recognized the Bodo language as an associate official language of Assam while the official state language is 'Axomiya' or the Assamese dialect.
Following an appeal from the past regime to send a "positive message to the indigenous people" the opposition dropped all of their amendments, and The Assam Official Languages (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was approved unanimously on the last day of the three-day winter session in December 2020.
Prior to the passage of this legislation, Bodo was only an official language in a few regions with a Bodo majority.
According to the 2011 census, Assam has over 90 lakh, Bengali-speaking people, whereas the state's Bodo-speaking population is just a little more than 14 lakh, according to Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha.
"We have no problem with Bodo being given the status of an associate official language. But, we demand the same status for the Bengali language also. We feel that the Bengali language is being neglected and discriminated against," he added.
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