Striking a blow Against Assam’s Inclusive Ethos

Context: The recently promulgated law(by the state of Assam) making the Assamese language compulsory in all schools points to a homogenised nationalism overtaking minority linguistic and cultural aspirations.

Reasons for such legislation:

• Data and politics: Statistical data have often been used as a tool to construct the linguistic hierarchy and homogenisation in a region. 

• The number of Assamese speakers as per the 2011 Census comes to 48.38% of the population from 60.89% in 1971. 
• But most tribal communities speak Assamese but return their respective languages as mother tongues. 

• Assamese nationalism: Due to the threat of infiltration and erosion of indigenous culture. 
• The Citizenship Amendment Act Factor: There was fear of infiltration that the CAA bill promoted. So the government is manipulating this fear by raising linguistic nationalism.

Negative impacts of such legislation:

• The imposition of Assamese has had adverse effects on tribal languages:. 

• Mising tribe reported a rate of decrease of 14.28% in the number of speakers by 2011. 
• Deoris, the percentage of speakers by 2011 had declined to 15.79%. 
• The Rabhas community, the number of speakers had decreased to -15.04%, from the 2001 Census.
• Sonowal-Kacharis and Tiwas have lost their languages.

• Forced homogenisation: results in demand for more autonomy for the tribals.

• E.g. The Official Language Bill in 1960 led to protest among the Khasi and other tribal communities leading to the formation of Meghalaya. 

• Loss of job opportunity: for tribal due to new legislation which makes only those who learned Assamese till matriculation suitable for government jobs in Assam. 

Conclusion: It is time for progressive sections in Assam to go beyond the politics of fear and assert the inclusive ethos of Assam to address minority linguistic and cultural aspirations.