TSF, IPFT’s student front to continue to agitation for Roman script till Monday, Pradyot’s attempt to fish in troubled water

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, March 22, 2025

The Tribal Student Federation (TSF) has decided to continue their agitation to press for exclusive introduction of Roman script for Kokborok language till Monday when there will be a detailed discussion over the issue in the state assembly. This was made clear today in an interaction with the media by TSF leadership in Agartala Press Club . They said that they will await the outcome of the discussion in the assembly and then announce their next course of action.

But even as the shadow boxing over the issue continues with the state government turning a blind eye to the inconvenience being caused to the people including ambulance-borne patients by the TSF agitators the IPFT’s student front has also joined the bandwagon of pro-Roman script movement so that they are not left behind in the competitive politics of script exceptionalism. The missionary termites all over the interior areas of the state have been provoking the student agitators to carry on their agitation. This was reflected in the agitation in the form of blockade launched by the IPFT students front and the TSF at the hospital chowmuhuni in Gandacherra and also in Raisyabari as part of an escalation today.

Apart from this, the cunning ‘Motha’ supremo Pradyot Kishore who has been assiduously pursuing his personal and familial agenda in the name of ‘Tiprasa’ is trying to fish in troubled water of the agitation to deflect attention of people from his party’s miserable failure in running the ADC as well as from his own failure to deliver on false and ridiculous promises like the mythical ‘Greater Tipraland’. Yesterday Pradyot materialized from nowhere in the TSF agitation site in Circuit House area of Agartala and then in the visitors gallery of state assembly but before that he had made a statement that unless indigenous students are educated they may have recourse to militancy. Pradyot’s desperation stems from the fact that the tribal people have seen through his evil and opportunistic designs and are having second thoughts on his personalized politics of self-aggrandizement. At the moment his priority is to secure higher representation of his part in the state cabinet and rehabilitation of his non-resident sister-MP in the union cabinet. “So far he has managed to get much leeway because of the immaturity and inexperience of the state BJP leadership and central BJP leadership’s ignorance of political equations in Tripura and highly centralized control; this situation will not however last long” said a senior ‘Tipra Motha’ leader who is a dissident. He added that one is tempted to ask what his family and his ancestors had done for ‘Kokborok’ and how many of them were actually able to speak or write the language.

Meanwhile, sources in BJP here said that the party is in favour of a separate and distinctive script for ‘Kokborok’ but not Roman. “Our ‘Janajati Morcha’ leaders are adamant that any script other than Roman will be acceptable ; their voice can not be ignored because they enjoy the support of the RSS; if they choose ‘Devnagari’ or an indigenous self-made script the matter will be settled in moments but the main trouble is being created by the soul-harvester missionary elements” said a senior BJP leader.

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