Agartala: Just ahead of Union home minister Amit Shah’s address at the North Eastern and Northern Regions Joint Regional Rajbhasha Sammelan on Friday in Agartala, the opposition Congress staged a protest in the city.The protest aimed to highlight the ruling dispensation’s alleged attempt to enforce Hindi at the expense of regional languages. Congress spokesperson Prabir Chakraborty alleged that the home minister’s visit was part of a broader language policy agenda aimed at promoting Hindi as the sole national language — an approach he termed unconstitutional and unacceptable.Chakraborty stressed that India’s Constitution recognises 22 official languages, including Hindi, and warned that privileging one language over others violates the constitutional spirit. He also linked recent remarks by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on infiltration and linguistic identity to a wider strategy, criticising any effort to elevate Hindi above other recognised languages.The timing of the protest, on the eve of International Mother Language Day, underscored the sensitivity of the issue. Congress accused the state govt of neglecting Bengali and Kokborok, the latter being widely spoken among Tripura’s indigenous communities.Chakraborty further pointed to economic distress and rising unemployment, holding Bhagwat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union home minister Amit Shah responsible. He asserted that Congress would continue its agitation against any policy that undermines or marginalises regional languages.
