SCRIPT MOVEMENT AMONG THE BODO OF ASSAM

Author(s): Satyendra Kumar Sarmah

Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 75, Platinum Jubilee (2014), pp.
1335-1340
Published by: Indian History Congress
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158526
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 SCRIPT MOVEMENT AMONG THE BODO OF
ASSAM

Satyendra Kumar Sarmah

The Bodo are one of the important tribal groups of Assam. The word Bodo
from linguistic term. The British ethnographer Brian Hodgson first used the te
to mean a particular linguistic group of people belonging to the Tibeto-Bur
family. This linguistic group would include the tribes like Kachari, Mech, Ra
Garo, Chutia, etc. Later on the term was used for the Kachari and Mech wh
called themselves Bara.1 They live in Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland, Tripur
Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. However, they concentrated mainly in
northern part of the Brahmaputra valley covering the area of the pre
Bodoland Territorial Council.
The movement for script was an important development among the
Bodo leaving deep rooted impact on their socio-political ideas. The event is
divided into four parts viz. origin, early developments later developments and
outcomes.

(1)
The Bodo developed no script of their own. The royal family used the
Bengali and Sanskrit languages for their official as well as literary purposes. Till
the middle of the nineteenth century, formal education was unknown to the Bodo
of Assam. It was only from the fortiep of the same century that the education
started to spread among them through the Government and the Christian
missionary schools. By 1849, a good number of students from the tribe enrolled
in the mission school at Guwahati established by Cyrus Barkar.2 In 1853, A. J.
Moffat Mills reported that out of 275 students enrolled in the Government
schools in Darrang district, 21 were from the Bodo tribe. In 1854, the Colonial
Government sanctioned Rs. 50/- to the Anglican missionaries in Darrang to
establish three schools among the Bodo of the district.3 In these schools the
medium of instruction was Assamese with marginal use of Bengali.

The Christian missionaries first gave the written form to the Bodo
language.4 In 1843, Barkar and his associates first published some prayer books
in Bodo language. But it was Sidney Endle, missionary from the Society for the
Propagation of Gospel, who had extensively used the language for religious,
educational and official purposes and wrote the Outline Grammar of Kachari
(Bārā) Language in 1884 and The Kacharis in 1901 using the Roman script. The
script was formally introduced for teaching the Bodo children in the year 1904.5

Outside the missionary endeavour, the educated Bodo started producing

their literature in the Bengali and Assamese script. The first published booklet,
Boroni Fisa O Ayen (1915) was published in Bengali script. Simultaneously, the
first magazine "Bibar" (1924-40) was trilingual (Bodo, Assamese and Bengali) in

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 1336 IHC: Proceedings , 75th Session, 2014

Assamese and Bengali script. Again in 1952, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, their
premier literary organisation, had decided to use solely the Assamese script for
the Bodo language. In 1963, Bodo medium was introduced in Assam as a
medium of instruction in primary stage and the Assamese script was adopted for
the Bodo medium.6
In the absence of a common script, they used Roman, Assamese and
Bengali scripts irrespectively in their literary works. While the Christian Bodo
used the modified form of Roman scripts, others used Assamese and Bengali
scripts.7 The need for using a single script for the language was felt with the
introduction of the Bodo medium of instruction in school education.8 In
consideration of a precise progress of education as well as their literature the
Bodo leaders started to give stress on the adoption of a single script for the whole
community from the early 1960's. Simultaneously, their aspiration for separate
identity was accelerated by the idea of the Assamese people for imposition of
their culture and language over other communities of Assam.9 The Assamese
language movement of 1960 had stirred up their keenness to have separate script
other than the Assamese, preferably the Roman script.
(2)
The formal proposal for the Roman script first came before the Bodo
Sahitya Sabha on its 6th Annual Conference held at Malaguri on 22nd and 23rd
February, 1964 and was followed by the demand of students from Shillong in the
next Annual conference in 1965. 10 The Sabha formed an 'Expert committee' in
1966 to examine the feasibility of the Roman script for the Bodo language.11
Subsequently in 1968, the Sabha formed another 'Bodo Script Sub-Committee'
with Saisingra Moshahari as the Convener.12
The Sub-Committee favoured the acceptance of the Roman script on
consideration of some technical advantages like easy to hand, less number of
alphabets, easy for mechanical manipulation, commercially economic, suitable
for writing scientific and technological terms, etc. over the other two scripts, viz.,
the Assamese and Bengali.13
The Bodo Sahitya Sabha at the Mahakalguri session (1970) accepted the
recommendations of the Saisingra Moshahari Sub-Committee to introduce the
Roman script.14 The Sabha appointed an Implementation Sub-Committee15 and it
recommended for the introduction of the Bodo Text Books in Roman script from
class T (Ka-man) in the primary stage from the academic session of 1971 . 16
On 22nd December 1970, the Central Executive Committee unanimously
resolved to introduce the Roman script from the academic session of 1972, in
conformity with the proposed new curriculum of the Board of Secondary
Education, Assam, in lieu of the academic session of 1971. 17
On 30th August 1971, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha formally placed their
demand for the introduction of the Roman script in Bodo medium schools in
place of the existing Assamese script. The proposal was rejected by the State
Government on the ground of its foreign origin. It was believed that the script
would banish shortly from the country.1 Simultaneously, the development raised
alarm that it was another step towards further fragmentation of the state with the

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 Contemporary History of India 1337

demand for Udayachal , a Union territory, by the Plains Tribal Council of Assam
(PTCA). In 1971, in a meeting the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi advised the
Bodo leaders to opt for any script that was used in the Indian languages other than
the Roman script.19
On 22nd April, 1974 the Bodo Sahitya Sabha without the approval of the
State Government adopted the Roman Script as the sole script for the Bodo
language. The Sabha declared its decision to introduce Bithorai , an elementary
textbook written in the Roman script, in the school curriculum. The Sabha
appealed to all the teachers of Bodo medium primary schools to introduce the
Bithorai in Class - 1 in their own.20
The State Government took a firm stand at the unilateral action of the
Sabha. The government ordered for holding-up the payments of the Bodo
medium primary school teachers and stopped all grants of those schools where
the Roman script was introduced.21 In their turn, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha started a
four-phased mass movement with active support from the All Bodo Students
Union (ABSU) and the Plains Tribal Council of Assam (PTCA).22 The movement
was believed to be a part of the Udayachal movement because of the active co-
operation from the PTCA.23 The third phase of the movement which lasted till
28th November 1974, proved to be the most fatal for the Bodo Script movement.
Fifteen volunteers were killed in police firing and many more wounded and
placed behind bars.24
The State Government emphasized on the maintenance of the status quo
"in the spirit of better understanding, close relationship among the various people
living in the state and national integrity"25 to minimize the scope of further
fragmentation of the state. The Asom Sahitya Sabha on their part adopted the
view that, "For cultural integration and development of tribal languages in the
state, the Assamese Script is enough and suitable."26 The stand taken by the
Asom Sahitya Sabha and the appeal of the State Government raised a fear among
the Bodo of the state that the Assamese intellectuals were trying to impose the
Assamese script on them.27
When dialogue failed, the State Government referred the issue to the
Union Government. The Union Government convinced the representatives of the
Bodo Sahitya Sabha for an alternative proposal of the Devanagari script instead
of the Roman script which was not in their agenda.28 The representatives of the
Bodo Sahitya Sabha did not have much justification to influence the Union
Government for the Roman script.29 Eventually, for them it became a prestige
issue to retreat and seemed mentally prepared to accept any other script except
Assamese."30 The representatives of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha signed a
memorandum with the Union Government on 9th April, 1975, agreeing to adopt
the Devanagari script for the Bodo language.31
The Sabha officially adopted the Devanagari script as the common script
for the Bodo language in its 16th Annual Conference, held at Dhing from 25th to
27th April. 1975. 2 With this, the Bodo Script movement for the Roman script
ended without achieving its desired goal, but with an alternative script in place of
Assamese script.33

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 1338 IHC: Proceedings, 75th Session, 2014
The Devanagari script for the Bodo language was an unexpected
development for the Bodo people and disagreement was exprened all around.34
The ABSU viewed the development as "imposition" on them.35 The Bodo
common people strongly reacted against the Devanagari script as an
experiment.36
(3)
The adoption of the Devanagari script for the Bodo language failed to
solve the script problem. The failure of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha to show sincerity
on the implementation of Devanagari script in strict sense sent a wrong message
to the younger generation. They thought that the adoption of the Devanagari
script is a temporary arrangement. Taking the advantage, a group of Bodo writers
continued the use of Assamese and Roman scripts instead of practicing the
Devanagari script in their writings. In 1987, the ABSU in their 92 points 'Charter
of Demands' to the State Government included the demand for introduction of
the Roman script for Bodo medium. The demand was boosted by the state
government's decision to introduce the Roman script for the Missing language.37
The formation of Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) in 1993 brought further
impetus to the issue. In this changing scenario, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha decided
to come back with their old issue totally ignoring their long journey with the
Devanagari script. The 32nd Conference of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha in 1993
formed one Expert Committee to find out ways for the script.38 The expert
committee recommended for implementation of the Roman script from Class-I
(one) onwards in the Bodo medium of education from the earliest possible
academic year with due approval from the Government.39
The recommendation was further strengthened by the resolution of the
Executive Body of the BAC on 4th January, 1994, to adopt the Roman Script for
Bodo medium schools within the council area.40 At the same time the Sabha tried
to persuade the State Government to implement the script in the state.
Accordingly in 1997, the State Government approved the Roman script for the
Bodo medium of education in Assam.41
Meanwhile, new developments sidelined all speculations on the script
issue. The ongoing negotiations between the Union Government and the Bodo
Liberation Tigers (BLT), an armed extremist group of the Bodo, increased the
possibility of inclusion of the Bodo language in the "Eighth Schedule" of the
Constitution on the continuation of the Devanagari script as agreed before along
with the fulfilment of the other conditions. Under that circumstance, ABSU along
with a few Bodo intellectuals and well-wishers supported the view that the
Devanagari script which was in use for last 25 years should continued at the
greater interest of the Bodo student community.42 In the 39th Annual Conference
held at Simborgaon in 2000, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha finally decided to continue
solely the Devanagari script for the Bodo language.43
From 2000, the Sabha, along with the active co-operation of the ABSU,
concentrated on the development and extension of the Bodo language and
literature through the Devanagari script. They emphasized to improve its standard
for its inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India and to get

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 Contemporary History of India 1339

recognition from the Sahitya Academy.44 On 22nd December, 2003 the Bodo
language was included in the "Eighth Schedule" by the Ninety-Second
Amendment Act of 2003 along with three other Indian languages viz. Dogri,
Maithili and Santhali. Subsequently, in 2005 the Sahitya Academy recognized the
Bodo language.
(4)
The script movement of 1974 had important bearing on the community.
The people's desire for a single script instead of three, viz. Roman, Assamese and
Bengali for the Bodo language resulted in the selection of the Roman script. The
issue was inspired by their identity question.
Because of political reasons and the apprehension compounded with it,
the State Government rejected the demand. The movement ended with the loss of
innocent lives and the adoption of the Devanagari script in place of the Roman
for the Bodo medium of education and language with the assurance from the
Union Government for the further development of the language only through the
Devanagari script. The gross negligence and lack of sincerity of the Sabha helped
in continuance of uncertainty on the script issue for a long hampering the interest
of the community.45 The issue attached to the emotion and sentiment rather than
reasoning. Noticeably, in 1985 the Bodo language was given the status of
Associate Official Language by the state government within the areas of the
Kokrajhar district and Udalguri sub-division. The development had its own
impact on the promotion of the Bodo language as subject into the higher level of
education leading to the desire for raising the language to the national level.
The decision to continue the Devanagari script had cleared the path for
the inclusion of the Bodo language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
The status of Eighth Schedule gave a new impetus in the development of
literature in the Bodo language with liberal support from the central agencies,
leading to recognition by the Sahitya Academy in 2005. The development
inspired the people to widen the scope of education within their area through their
own language.
NOTES AND REFERENCES

Sidney Endle, The Kacharis , Bina Library, Guwahati, 2007, p. 4.

F. S. Down, Mighty Works of the God, Christian Literature Centre, Guwahati, 1971, p. 84
Assam Secretariat, Letter issued to the Government, Vol. 19, 1854.
Pramod Ch. Bhattacharya, A Descriptive Analysis of Bodo Language, G. U. 1977, p. 14.
3 Bijoy Kr. Daimary, Boro Politics in Assam since Independence, M. Phil dissertation, N
p. 42.
'Kanakeswar Narzary, Roman (English) Script and Bodo Sahitya Sabha , Kokrajhar, 1993, d. 32.
?Madhu Ram Boro, The Historical Development of Boro Language, N. L. Publications, 2007, p. 39.
8 Moniram Mochahary, "Bodo Residents of Shillong and the Bodo Sahitya Sabha," Darrang Bisombi,
32nd Conference of Bodo Sahitya Sabha, 1993, p. 1 1.
9 Siva Nath Barman, "Why Separatism: An Assessment to the Tribal Turmoil in Assam," RANGE-
REGA, Souvenir, BPF, Udalguri, 2008, p. 66.
10 J. K. Basumatary, Sangram, Autobiography, Kokrajhar Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Kokrajhar, 2008, p.
77.
Kanakeswar Narzary, op. cit., p. 8.

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 1340 IHC: Proceedings, 75th Session, 2014

n Ibid., P. 13.
"Ibid., pp. 10-12.
Ibid., pp. 12-17.
Bodo Script Sub-committee report , 1 969, chaired by Saisingra Mosahary.
16 Extract of the Report of the Implementation Sub-Committee, August 23, 1970.
17 Extract of the Resolutions of the BSS Central Executive Committee, Gossaigaon (Magthaigaon)
22nd December, 1970.
18 Kanakeswar Narzary, op. cit., p. 63.
J. K. Basumatary, op. cit., p. 109.
20 Circular issued by the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, 1st May, 1974.
Kanakeswar Narzary, op. cit., p. 12; as also informed by Sujendra Nath Daimary, victim primary
teacher, 86yrs old, 1 No. Daiphang, Udalguri, in an interview on 20dl Nov. 2009 at 12.30.
Bijoy K. Daimary, op. cit., p. 54.
23 Sanjib Hazarika, India Against Itself, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999, p. 185.
The Assam Tribune , daily English news paper, November 20, 1974, November 24, 1974, November
28, 1974; Dainik Asom, Assamese daily news paper, November 27, 1974; Kanakeswar Narzary, op.
cit., p. 20; extract of the Resolution 2(3) of the Executive Committee meeting of BSS, 12th April,
1975, Barama.
Memo No BMI/1/74, Govt, of Assam, 23 January 1 975.
1 Dainik Asom, Assamese Daily, 1 * November 1 974.
27 Bijoy Kr. Daimary, op. cit., pp. 58-59.
Informed by Dhaneswar Swargiary, Former President of Darrang District Bodo Sahitya Sabha in an
interview on 22nd September 2009 at 1 1 .00 a.m.
29 Informed by Rajendra Khakhlari, Vice-President, Bodo Sahitya Sabha on 17th July 2012 at 11.00
a.m.

0 Charan Narzary, "The Script for The Bodo Language", Samakha, Souvenir, Bodo Sahitya
Simborgaon, 2000, p. 34.
Kanakeswar Narzary, op. cit., pp. 28-29.
Resolution No. 2, adopted in the 16 Annual Conference of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, held a
on the 25,h to 27th April, 1975.
33 The Assam Gazette Notification No. EMI. 80/70/71 dated Dispur the 11 June, 1975
Gazette, Vol. 24, Part. II (Al), 1975.
Charan Narzary, op. cit., p. 34.
35 Chandan K. Sharma, "In Search of a Suitable Script", in Ban Raja , Souvenir, 46 A
Conference, Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Sirajuli, 2007, p. 6.
Suchitra Kakati, A Study of the Educational Development of the Bodo Tribe during th
Independence period, with particular reference to the Northern Region of Assam, unpublished
thesis, G.U., 1981, pp. 141-42.
37 Kanakeswar Narzary, op. cit., p. 34.
Extract of Resolutions, 32 Conference of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, 25 to 28 February
Tangia.
Report of the Roman Script Implementation Expert Committee, formed by Bodo Sahitya Sabha,
30th December 1993, Kokrajhar.
Proceedings of the meeting of the Bodoland Executive Council, Bodoland Autonomous Council,
Kokrajhar; K. Narzary, op. cit., p. 53.
Vide letter No PLB66/97/6 dated XT March, 1997; The Bodo , 23w issue, 1998; Government
notification No. A (I) E. 316/97/99, dated 9th March, 1998.
42 Rajendra Khakhlari, op. cit.
43 Secretarial Report, 40 Annual Conference, 25th Feb. 2000 to 25 Feb. 2001, Goyabari (Basugaon).
Madhu Boro, The Historical Development of Boro Language, N. L. Publications, 2007, pp. 41-43.
Rajendra Khakhlari, op. cit.
N B. The term Bodo is itself a plural term. Because of this in this paper an attempt is made to use the
term 'Bodo' instead of 'Bodos' only.

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