Assam: Bodo Students’ Union demands Govt signboards in Bodo language

Guwahati: The All-Bodo Students’ Union has spoken out against government signboards that are not printed in Bodo but rather either English or Assamese.

The ABSU wrote on the signboards in black ink that the Bodo language in BTR should be given priority over Assamese and English.

Notably, the ABSU has mandated that Bodo signboards be used in all small and medium-sized business businesses.

Furthermore, it mandated that all English-language hoardings in metropolitan areas including Kokraghar, Bijni, Kajalgaon, and Udaliguri Town be replaced by ones that are printed in Bodo, Assamese, and English within a week.

It needs to be mentioned that the language dispute that broke out after the Bodoland Urban Development agency installed signboards written in English.

Speaking to the media, the Bodo Students’ Union president Dipen Boro said, “We have noticed that some signboards have been written and printed in the English language by the Urban department.”

“It is our own concern and also our sentiment as Bodo language has been recognised as one of the languages in the Indian constitution in 2003…and as per the Bodo accord it has become an associate official language of state government,” he added.

Further, the student body president also alleged that the director of the urban organisation allegedly disregarded the formal state government notification.