Guwahati: Assam’s premier literary organisation, Asom Sahitya Sabha, has directed its district units to paint all public signboards black if they were not written in the official state language by the forthcoming Rongali Bihu festival.
The Sabha, he said, has presented several suggestions to the government in this regard, but if it fails to cooperate, the Sabha would be compelled to blacken all signboards during Bihu. The Sabha has also demanded creation of a separate directorate, to declare Bodo as an associate official language, to give importance to the particular indigenous language in the autonomous council areas where Assamese would be the second language and 50 per cent marks in the mother tongue language should be made mandatory in appointments to all government and non-government jobs.
Rajbongshi clarified that they were not against English as a medium per se but was committed to the promotion of the mother tongue as it was a part of the UN and the centre’s education policy. “Our demand is to make the mother tongue first, state language the second, national language the third and English, the fourth language for medium of instruction and official purpose”, he added. (PTI)
