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'International conspiracy': Why the BJP is opposing the Roman script for Tripura's Kokborok tongue

Scroll | February 4, 2026 4:40 PM CST

Last week, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha declared that his government would not agree to the Kokborok language, spoken by Tripura’s tribal groups, being written in the Roman script.

These groups account for a little over 30% of the state’s total population.

The decision puts the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on a path of conflict with its ally, the Tipra Motha, which has in the last few weeks stepped up its demand for a change of script for Kokborok.

Kokborok is currently written in Bengali but demand for it to be written in Roman dates back several decades.

Chief Minister Saha shot down the demand for the “foreign script”, calling it part of an “international conspiracy”. He asked tribal groups to either develop a script for the Kokborok language or to adopt the Devanagari script instead of Bengali.

“We will never allow Roman script for Kokborok language because it poses a threat to the indigenous traditional and culture,” Saha said at a party programme in South Tripura. “The young generation will completely forget their culture if Roman script is adopted for their language.”

Saha’s stand is in line with the Centre’s suggestion and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s backing for the Devanagari script for indigenous languages in the North East. Both...