Assamese language minority in Assam
Guwahati, Jan 08 (UNI): More than half of Assam's inhabitant does
not speak Assamese language and it is now official as the
Directorate of Census has released the datas regarding the state
wise language figures.
The shocking figures say that only 49.44 per cent of
people living in Assam speak Assamese language while 27.91 people
speak Bengali. Next major language is Hindi with 5.97 per cent
while 4.93 per cent speak Bodos.
"This is because Assamese despite being the official
language, the state government neither promote it nor use it in
their official communication" alleged Asom Sahitya Sabha President
Kanak Sen Deka.
The highest and most revered literary body of Assam
yesterday took out a protest procession on the streets of Guwahati
which was led by some of the most renowned face of Assamese
literature but the census figures put the last nail in to the
coffin.
"If you look at figures, you will see Bengali is
spoken by 27.91. It is not the proper Bengali we all know. It is a
complex dialect which has its orgin in Bangladesh. A typical
Mymensingh dialect and it once again amplifies our long standing
stand that Bangladeshis have changed the demographic pattern of
Assam" said Dr Samujjal kr Bhattacharya, the All Assam Students
Union (AASU) adviser.
But despite the rhoeric, the bare figure of Census
says that Assamese speaking people have been steadily decreasing
over the past three decades causing serious concern over and heart
burn.
The Assam Sahitya Sabha has decided to examine the
matter seriously and would like to see whether the assimilation
process of immigrant Muslims, who migrated to Assam legally, have
been successful.
But the AASU has adopted a tougher line. "We have
just two ways to go. Firstly, we can be a second class citizen and
accept the political, social and linguistic leadership of
immigrants or get united and fight out the infiltrators" said Dr
Bhattacharya.
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