Union minister for home Amit Shah spells out Centre’s preference for ‘Nagari’ script for ‘Kokborok’ language
By Our Correspondent
Agartala, February 20, 2026
The union home minister Amit Shah today made a clear hint on the Centre’s preference for ‘Nagari’ (Devnagari) script for tribal ‘Kokborok’ language of Tripura in his address to the audience to the Regional Official Language (Rajbhasa) conference held in the inner auditorium of the international fair ground at Hapania area of Agartala. The conference was attended by delegates from all eight states of the northeastern region and dignitaries from Delhi including minister of state (home) Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Anshuli Arya , the secretary in the department of official language under the union home ministry of home, Tripura chief minister Dr Manik Saha, former chief minister and MP Biplab Kumar Deb, MP Kriti Debi Singh and BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Bhattacharjee. Shortly after arriving at the MBB airport, Agartala Shah was received by high dignitaries including the chief minister Dr Saha and taken straight to the auditorium after a rousing reception .
Taking the dais after the other VIPs had spoken Amit Shah , in the course of his speech , said that he is aware of demands being made by a section of people here for a ‘foregin script’ (Roman) for ‘Kokborok’ and said that those making the demand should go for ‘Nagari’ script which originated and evolved in Indian soil. He thanked V.P.Philip and late Acharya Vunoba Bhave for working on Nagari script and commended the scholars and linguists attached to his ministry for major contributions to the growth and development of Hindi language which is written in Nagari or Devnagari script. “India and specially the northeast is a treasure trove of linguistic variety; there are more than two hundred languages in northeast region but all of them do not have their own scripts ; most of the languages are spoken but if they want to have a script, they should go for Nagari script which is acknowledged worldwide as the most scientific and computer-friendly” said Amit Shah.
He also stressed on the importance of education of children at least up to the primary level in mother tongue which is promoted by Centre. “All major nationality groups in the world like Germans, Japanese, French and others acquire their education in their mother tongue and this is also a reason for their advancement; we should do the same at least up to the primary level” said the union home minister . He also made an appeal to guardians cutting across all lines to speak and interact with children at home in mother tongue so that they remain rooted in their culture and distinctive identity.
In the course of his speech Amit Shah also sought to dispel the adverse reaction in many parts of the country to promotion of Hindi and set things straight. “ Hindi was chosen as official language through intensive debate in the constituent assembly and thereafter it was included in the constitution ; we are merely performing our constitutional duties and not imposing any language on any state or group of people ; the greatest Hindi writers from south were C. Rajagopalachari and Subramania Bharati and both of them were from the state of Tamil Nadu; Mahatma Gandhi , poet Rabindra Nath Tagore also spoke highly of Hindi; the great musical stalwarts from Tripura Late Kumar Sachin Debbarman and his son Rahul Debbarman belonged to Tripura and late Bhupen Hazarika belonged to Assam but they shone in Bollywood in Hindi music” said Amit Shah. He said that he himself as well as prime minister Narendra Modi are from Gujrar but they have learnt well and adapted to Hindi . He also appreciated Tripura chief minister Dr Manik Saha and other stalwarts in the programme today including his junior minister from Andhra Pradesh Bandi Sanjay Kumar for fluency in Hindi and stressed on the importance of maintaining national solidarity and unity in India’s linguistic diversity which also gives equal importance to all other languages written and merely spoken.
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