The Tripura Pradesh Congress on February 20 staged a protest ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the state, accusing the Centre of trying to impose Hindi and weaken regional languages.
The demonstration took place in front of the Tripura Pradesh Congress Bhavan in Agartala, where party leaders and workers gathered with placards and raised slogans against what they described as the “forced imposition” of Hindi.
Speaking to reporters, Congress spokesperson Prabir Chakraborty said the country was going through a “difficult phase,” citing economic slowdown and rising unemployment. He blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for what he termed the current situation.
Chakraborty alleged that the Home Minister’s visit was not merely administrative but connected to a broader push on language policy. According to him, attempts were being made to project Hindi as the national language — a move he called both “unconstitutional and unacceptable.”
Referring to recent remarks by the RSS chief on infiltration and identification linked to language, Chakraborty claimed such statements pointed to a larger strategy. He argued that elevating Hindi above other officially recognised languages would violate the constitutional spirit.
“India’s Constitution recognises 22 official languages. Hindi is one of them, but it cannot be imposed over others,” he said.
The protest was organised on the eve of International Mother Language Day, a timing Congress leaders said was significant. They maintained that promoting one language at the cost of others was especially concerning at a time meant to celebrate linguistic diversity.
The party also accused the state government of neglecting Bengali and Kokborok — the latter widely spoken among Tripura’s indigenous communities. Congress leaders asserted that they would continue to resist any policy or move that, in their view, sidelines or undermines regional languages.